Ledeč Town Hall is preparing a survey on whether to abolish the heritage conservation area

Ledeč nad Sázavou (Havlíčkobrodsko) - In Ledeč nad Sázavou, an opinion poll will take place around the same time as the presidential elections in January. The town hall wants to ask people if they agree with the abolition of the municipal heritage zone. The zone was declared in 2003 and encompasses a significant part of the town. According to Mayor Petr Vaněk (ČSSD), it also restricts the owners of contemporary houses. Heritage officials in the region encounter such efforts rarely.
     The announcement of the poll will still be discussed by the representatives. If they are in favor, the ballot papers will be distributed to households before the presidential elections. According to the mayor, the results of the poll would give the town leadership a mandate to negotiate with the Ministry of Culture, which declared the zone, and with the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ).
     For heritage officials in Vysočina, Ledeč is an unusual case. "Various revisions of the borders of the heritage zone are being made, but zones are usually expanding," said Marie Jirková from the NPÚ office in Telč. She added that heritage officials will deal with the Ledeč zone if they receive a prompt from the Ministry.
     The town has been complaining about the delineation of the zone for some time. "The zone was drawn from a desk. They didn't see how it looks in reality at all, and this is the result," said Vaněk. According to him, the expectations that heritage protection would open up further opportunities for obtaining grants for the town and private individuals have not been fulfilled. The town hall originally considered a local referendum due to the zone, but this allegedly cannot be combined with the presidential elections.
     According to the mayor, the zone is too broad and includes buildings from the 1980s. The zone cuts Haškova Street, which has houses built in the 1950s in half. "There are completely the same houses. Some are in the heritage zone and some are not," Vaněk elaborated. According to him, for people in the zone, for example, repairing a roof can become more expensive by up to 200,000 crowns. "They have to pay for everything themselves," he stated.
     The town hall began to consider the poll to abolish the zone after a recent dispute with heritage officials over the felling of a linden tree in the old cemetery. One grave owner complained that the roots of the tree were preventing her from further burials. However, heritage officials rejected the felling, reasoning that it is a valuable tree that is part of the row of trees by the path to the church.