in 1989, at the end of the cold war, the soltau-lüneburg agreement was renegotiated by defence ministers, gerhard stoltenberg, and tom king, in order to reduce the impact of exercises on the local population. in 1990, a break in training of several weeks was agreed during the time when the heath was in bloom during the peak tourist period of august and september. in addition no tanks were permitted to use the red areas on sundays and public holidays. villages were given a 400 metre wide buffer zone from armoured exercises and tanks were not permitted to drive through them at night.