The construction turbo must not become a ban turbo on Norderney
The FDP Norderney expressly welcomes the construction turbo. Especially on our island, where permanently usable and affordable housing is scarce, new options must be used boldly and pragmatically. This makes the guideline adopted by the town all the more incomprehensible. While the Bundestag and the Federal Ministry of Housing are deliberately giving municipalities more flexibility, this opportunity is not being taken up on Norderney. Instead of using opportunities, new hurdles, exclusions and review procedures are being created.
What is the town actually trying to achieve with this guideline?
If the goal is more housing, the guideline will miss that goal. It does not create homes; it restricts room for manoeuvre. This will not result in more housing.
The federal government creates leeway – Norderney closes it again.
The Bundestag has adopted the construction turbo so that municipalities can respond more flexibly to the housing shortage. The Federal Ministry of Housing sets out ways to speed up planning and approval procedures and enable new homes. It cannot be that the federal government provides municipalities with additional instruments and Norderney responds primarily with new restrictions. Anyone granted more municipal flexibility should also use it in the interests of the island.
Berlin opens a door – and Norderney slams it shut again.
A municipal guideline must not turn the purpose of the law into its opposite. An instrument intended to speed things up must not become either a bureaucracy turbo or a ban turbo.
Use the opportunity for the industrial area
The construction turbo should also be seen as an opportunity to finally bring movement to the untenable situation in Norderney’s industrial area. For years, there have been conflicts of use and unresolved problems there. Instead of ruling out possible solutions from the outset, it should be examined whether a responsible application of the construction turbo can create additional permanent housing and bring order to the existing situation.
This is not about recklessly giving up necessary commercial space. It is about acknowledging the reality: Where housing is acceptable from an urban-planning perspective, it should be made possible. Where conflicts between housing and commercial uses can be resolved, the town must seize this opportunity. Rigid exclusions help neither the people living there nor the businesses. The construction turbo could instead help to put existing shortcomings in order and develop viable solutions for both housing and commerce.
Bans do not create additional homes
At the same time, the town is trying to force a redistribution of existing uses through bans and restrictions on holiday apartments. But such a redistribution does not initially create a single additional home. Anyone who bans holiday apartments or severely restricts their use does not build new housing. Instead, existing economic structures are weakened, owners are burdened, and jobs in accommodation, hospitality, cleaning,
trades, retail and other service sectors are put at risk. Tourism is Norderney’s economic foundation. A policy that broadly declares holiday apartments to be the problem ignores their importance for businesses, employees and municipal revenues. Housing policy must not be played off against jobs. Norderney needs both: permanently usable housing and a strong tourism economy. However, new homes are not created by merely shifting existing uses, but above all through new construction, densification, conversion and faster approvals. That is exactly what the construction turbo should be used for.
Treat those who want to build as partners
Particularly problematic is the wording that projects could seek to obtain concessions for other uses “under the guise of creating housing”. Such phrasing places prospective builders and investors under a general suspicion of abuse. Anyone who wants to create permanent housing on Norderney should first be regarded as a partner – not as a potential trickster. Of course, every project must be carefully reviewed. The construction turbo is not a blank cheque. What is needed, however, is an objective case-by-case review instead of blanket exclusions and ever new hurdles.
Create housing, preserve economic strength
Norderney needs permanently available housing for island residents, families, employees and trainees. At the same time, the businesses and jobs that economically sustain our island must be protected. The FDP Norderney therefore calls for a fundamental revision of the guideline. The leeway opened up by the federal government must be used, blanket exclusions reduced, and suitable projects genuinely accelerated.
This expressly also applies to possible solutions in the industrial area. The key question remains: Does the town want to use the construction turbo to enable additional housing – or does it primarily want to prevent it from being applied at all? With the current guideline, no additional housing will be created. At the same time, a policy of bans on holiday apartments threatens to merely redistribute existing uses and destroy jobs.
A guideline for prevention
A guideline should provide orientation, simplify procedures and make clear under what conditions a project can be enabled. However, the present guideline conveys the opposite message. It lists hurdles, formulates suspicions and emphasises grounds for exclusion. In doing so, it ultimately serves one purpose above all: To make it clear to everyone involved that the construction turbo should, if possible, not be triggered on Norderney. This is the opposite of what the Bundestag and the Federal Ministry of Housing intend with the new scope for action. An opportunity to create additional housing more quickly is being turned into an instrument of deterrence.
Norderney does not need a policy of prevention, but a policy of enabling: for more housing, a strong economy and secure jobs.
APPENDIX
Information sheet on the town of Norderney’s construction turbo
What exactly is the housing construction turbo? – Federal Government, January 2026