On these narrow strips you also find our very scarce arable land and expanding towns and cities. We have a decentralised system. This is subsidiarity in practice. We have a comprehensive system. National sector policies are to be co-ordinated at local and regional level by the municipal and county comprehensive planning.
Central government has no overruling comprehensive plan at national level.
The national sector systems usually overrule the comprehensive planning undertaken by local and regional authorities i.e. state agencies are not really serious about being co-ordinated, at least not by municipalities or county councils. Some municipalities do not emphasise, or are not staffed for broad comprehensive planning. Many are prone to grant exemptions from prevailing plans rather than updating their plans to current policies. There are no good mechanisms for co-ordinating planning and plan decisions across municipal boundaries. This often causes a fragmented overall development and detrimental competition between municipalities.