The Consell approves the draft of the new Land Law, which will allow an increase of up to 20% in the number of homes and a 10% increase in building capacity for sites designated for protected housing (VPO). The regulation is now set to be processed in Les Corts.
The Consell has given the green light this Friday to the draft of the new Land Law of the Valencian Generalitat, a text that will completely replace the Consolidated Text of the Law on Territorial Planning, Urban Development and Landscape (LOTUP). The regulation, which now faces its parliamentary processing in Les Corts, where changes may be incorporated, aims to streamline urban management and facilitate the construction of protected housing, as explained by the third vice president and minister of Environment, Infrastructure, Territory and Recovery, Vicente Martínez Mus.
Among the most notable measures, the text allows for an increase in the utilization of sites without the need to previously modify the planning. In undeveloped plots located in urban or developable land with detailed planning, an increase of up to 10% in building capacity and up to 20% in the maximum number of homes can be authorized, provided that the promotion is entirely for protected housing. It will even be possible to increase the number of homes without increasing building capacity. If the plot was already reserved for VPO, the new building capacity must maintain that regime during the protection period; if it was not, all resulting residential building capacity will be linked to that purpose.
The regulation also creates a Sectoral Territorial Action Plan (PAT) for protected housing to address needs that exceed the scope of a single municipality. This plan may delineate areas that encompass land from several municipalities and set quantitative and temporal objectives for VPO production. When it is essential to have land within the planned deadlines and it is not feasible to achieve this through municipal planning, the PAT may classify and zone land directly, define its detailed planning, and acquire the land through expropriation or land readjustment. Protected non-developable lands by state or European legislation, as well as those subject to sectoral protections incompatible with their transformation, are excluded.
Another tool is the special public initiative plans for protected housing, which allow administrations to create and organize new residential areas. At least 50% of the residential building capacity will be reserved for public protected housing, although the plan itself may increase that percentage. These plans must justify the necessary infrastructure and facilities, set execution deadlines, and determine costs and mechanisms to obtain the land, with expropriation as the preferred method, without excluding agreements with owners or land readjustment.
The text also incorporates local housing projects promoted by the Generalitat, a figure that allows the Administration to implement protected residential use on vacant plots owned by it or its instrumental public sector when the current urban qualification does not allow it. For this, the approval of the corresponding municipality will be necessary, through a full agreement approved by an absolute majority. Once approved, the project will entail a declaration of general interest and will not require municipal urban planning permission. The execution and subsequent allocation of the homes may be directly undertaken by the competent housing ministry or the Valencian Housing and Land Entity (EVha).
The future law arrives in a context of difficulty in accessing housing in the Comunitat Valenciana. With this regulation, the Generalitat aims to mobilize public and private land to expand the stock of protected housing, both in the short and long term. The draft will now continue its parliamentary course, so the final text may vary before its definitive approval.
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