Wind farm construction mostly rejected in Czech referendums, as was a waste incinerator in Písek

Residents of most municipalities that held local referendums on wind farms on Friday and today rejected their construction. Voters opposed them in nine of the 17 referendums. In other votes, residents backed building a care home for the elderly, reducing the size of a heritage zone, closing gambling venues or having the municipality run a restaurant. They rejected a waste incinerator in Písek, a sports hall, a high-speed railway route and gravel extraction. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) learned this from municipal representatives or websites.

The results of two of the 40 referendums are not yet available; one may be decided by a court.

Turnout was high in the votes, which were held alongside the parliamentary elections. The results announced so far are therefore valid and binding on municipal councils. A referendum is valid if at least 35 percent of registered voters take part. Under the law, its result is binding if a specific answer is chosen by a majority of referendum voters and by at least 25 percent of all eligible voters.

Residents most often voted on wind farms in the Olomouc Region and Vysočina. They rejected construction in Kobylá nad Vidnavkou, Velká Kraš and Bernartice in the Jeseník area; Černovice in the Pelhřimov area; Polná in the Jihlava area; Mšecké Žehrovice in the Rakovník area; Řisuty in the Kladno area; Peč in the Jindřichův Hradec area; and Čaková in the Bruntál area. Residents backed construction or continuing to plan wind farms in Stonařov and Věžnička in the Jihlava area, Menhartice in the Třebíč area, Domašov u Šternberka in the Olomouc area, Mišovice in the Písek area, Jindřichovice pod Smrkem in the Liberec area and Jarov in the southern Plzeň area.

In Nové Dvory in the Žďár area, lawyers or a court will likely determine whether the results of local referendums on plans to build wind farms are valid. Residents received two ballot papers: one with questions from the municipal council, and another with a question set by a court for the referendum at the request of its organising committee. Both referendums drew enough voters to meet the turnout threshold.

In Písek, residents rejected a waste incinerator costing CZK 2.1 billion, which had already been awarded a CZK 1.3 billion grant from the Modernisation Fund and received a positive environmental impact assessment (EIA). Residents in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou in the Třebíč area opposed plans for a sports hall. Residents in Skalice in the Tábor area rejected plans to extract gravel and bentonite, while voters in Bohuslavice and Třeština in the Šumperk area backed preventing gravel extraction.

Residents of Boží Dar in the Karlovy Vary area do not want development in the area of the former village of Ryžovna. Voters rejected a planned expansion of the landfill in Čáslav in the Kutná Hora area and a high-speed railway route through the municipality of Troskotovice in the Brno area. Residents of Heršpice in the Vyškov area do not want the water supply infrastructure transferred to the ownership of Vodovody a kanalizace (VaK) Vyškov; they want it to remain municipal property.

Residents of Statenice near Prague backed imposing conditions on extensive development in the municipality. The municipality should seek to ensure that a developer’s project is accompanied by the construction of a primary school and a road. Oskava in the Šumperk area will remain under the administrative jurisdiction of Šumperk, a municipality with extended powers. In a referendum, residents rejected a planned transfer to nearby Uničov from the beginning of 2027.

Voters backed construction of a care home for the elderly in Dudín in the Jihlava area; renovation of a building on the town square in Jablonec nad Jizerou in the Semily area; the town’s plans to use municipal land for a supported-living facility in Štarnov in the Olomouc area; and plans to close gambling venues in Polička in the Svitavy area. The municipal office in Holčovice in the Bruntál area will continue running a restaurant in the Municipal House that has been loss-making for a long time.

In Benešov, residents backed demolishing the main building of the former Tábor Barracks. In Tehov near Prague, they backed a ban on large-scale commercial development within the municipality, while in Černolice near Prague they backed continued efforts by the municipality to prevent waste and excavated soil from being dumped in a former brickworks. In response to additional questions in Kobylá nad Vidnavkou, residents also backed taking all steps to preserve and restore the local road and railway crossings.

The results of the referendums in Kladno and Prague 1 are not yet known. In Kladno, residents voted on the future operation of casinos and gaming halls in the city. In Prague 1, they could vote on banning or restricting shared electric scooters and on other issues related to tourism.