Amendments to the Journal of Laws regarding land consolidation and exchange.

What is land consolidation?

Land consolidation, otherwise known as consolidation, is a process that involves separating new registration plots to eliminate the small and scattered plots of land. In this way, agricultural or forest land is better managed, modernized, and developed. Agricultural machinery and equipment are often used to consolidate the land, the task of which, apart from separating the land, is also helping in the construction of access roads. The purpose of consolidation is to improve agricultural production and minimize costs incurred on farms. These activities are financed 100% from public funds.

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What did the Land Consolidation and Exchange Act introduce?

The document published in the Journal of Laws contains legal solutions aimed at improving the consolidation activities discussed at meetings. The act introduced a provision that makes it possible to resign from reading the provisions on consolidation activities. This provision is particularly important in the event of extraordinary measures, which include, inter alia, the state of epidemic and war, because it makes it possible to limit interpersonal contacts. Convening the meeting and making decisions together would be dangerous in this case, therefore resignation from the time-consuming reading of the provisions on consolidation activities is a beneficial change.  

Moreover, the new act also imposed an obligation to publish information about the initiation of consolidation proceedings on the personal websites of the office servicing the authority responsible for issuing the decision.

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What changes to land consolidation and exchange are listed in the Journal of Laws?

Amendments to the act on consolidation and exchange of land concern, among others:

• Notifying owners of land adjacent to the boundaries of the consolidation area about the place and date of performing activities in the form of an announcement.
• A precise definition of activities related to the definition of the course of external borders, which are performed after the commencement of the procedure by referring to the provisions of the "Geodetic and Cartographic Law".
• Before the presentation of the consolidation project, the participants of the procedure can submit proposals on how to separate the land in exchange for the land they have so far owned.
• Approval of the method of communication with the use of electronic means in the case of carrying out activities related to the performed consolidation proceedings.
• Streamlining the procedures for determining the parties to the proceedings in the event of unregulated or undisclosed legal status of land that is included in the land consolidation area.

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How is the consolidation going on in Podkarpacie?

Many farmers have an ambivalent attitude towards the consolidation process. In the Podkarpacie region, in the village of Grodzisko Dolne, land joining activities have been carried out since 2015. Before the activities, most of the farmers had narrow plots, which were often 2.5 meters wide. Therefore, they required consolidation activities, thanks to which land with a new shape was separated. After the work was completed, many farmers were dissatisfied with the results because they did not receive the compensation they deserved for crops that had been irretrievably lost. Moreover, the promised access roads to the new land, which the surveyors had placed on the maps, were not created. The problem was reported to the starost, who is currently consulting the situation with the voivode.