Zoning as an instrument of landscape protection of health spa resorts in Poland

The paper discusses the issue of the “A”, “B”, “C” zones of spa protection regulated by “The law on spa treatment, health resorts and its protected areas, and on health resort administrative districts” (2005) as part of the spa area or spa protection area, defined in a spa statute, established in order to protect healing medical properties and natural medical resources in the respect of values of environment protection and spa facilities. The aim of the research, the results of which arepresented in the paper, was to identify the problems related to the functioning of protection zones in spas in Polish. In addition, an attempt was made to assess the efficiency of zoning as an instrument of landscape protection, defined by the European Landscape Convention as a geographical-psychological reality perceived in a multi-sensory way. In the course of the research, selected planning and strategic documents were analysed, including spa statutes. On their basis, the cities in Poland with the largest and smallest area of the A zone of spa protection and health resorts in Poland according to the size of the area of different types of spa protection zones were compared. The outcomes of the research were juxtaposed with the conclusions drawn in the report of the Supreme Audit Office (2016). It was shown that the spa protection zones, due to their protection, the function that determines the preservation of the therapeutic qualities of the landscape should be treated as an indispensable tool for protecting the landscape of spa resorts.