Ten years in office: Dr. Ullrich celebrates his anniversary in Central Hesse!

Ten years in office: Dr. Ullrich celebrates his anniversary in Central Hesse!

At a celebratory meeting, Ulrich Künz, the chairman of the Central Hesse Regional Assembly, Dr. Christoph Ullrich, the district president of Giessen, was honored for his tenth anniversary in office. Since October 2, 2014, Dr. Ullrich in office and has since proven to be an important player in regional planning and development. Künz not only praised Ullrich's commitment, but also the good cooperation between the regional council and the regional assembly, which consists of 31 elected members of the district councils and city council assemblies in the districts of Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Marburg-Biedenkopf and Vogelsberg. This cooperation is crucial for the future of Central Hesse, emphasized Ullrich in his acceptance speech.

“Dr. Ullrich’s commitment to regional development has contributed to the positive development of Central Hesse,” said Künz. The District President not only hosts the regional plan, but also actively participated in the first disclosure of the plan, which took place on April 7, 2025. During this first phase, there were over 2,300 statements with more than 7,000 comments, which were comprehensively examined and integrated into the revised draft regional plan. This was approved during a public meeting in Hadamar with a majority of 20 yes and 7 no votes, as Marburg.news reports.

Focus on population participation

A central concern of Dr. Ullrich is intensive citizen participation, which will be of great importance not only during the development of the regional plan, but also in future planning processes. The new version of the regional plan aims to address various challenges, including housing shortages, job security and climate adaptation. The planned regulations include the development of residential areas and industrial areas, as well as the protection of agriculture, nature conservation and flood protection.

The public will continue to be actively involved in the planning processes. For the new disclosure period, which runs from May 26 to July 6, 2025, all citizens are invited to submit comments on the amended draft details. Dr. Ullrich is aware of the challenges and sees the need to promote citizen participation in the context of digitalization. This was also triggered by the Online Access Act (OZG), which aimed to ensure the digital provision of administrative services by the end of 2022, as stated Open Government Germany

Digitalization as an opportunity

In times of change, digitalization plays an essential role. The aim is to develop digital participation processes that can particularly benefit small municipalities. These developments not only increase information options for citizens, but also improve the quality of planning. The introduction of machine-readable data exchange formats should help to further promote participation and transparency.

Looking to the future, Ullrich is optimistic that the new regional plan can be successfully completed during his term of office. The district president, who has always taken part in the meetings of the regional assembly over the last ten years and has repeatedly emphasized their importance for the development of Central Hesse, sees the upcoming challenges as an opportunity to further advance the region.

His achievements and tireless commitment to the region have not only received attention during celebrations, but also in the daily work of the numerous regional planning actors who work together on the vision of a livable Central Hesse.