📋 Tender Overview
Regulations profoundly reforming the planning and zoning process have just entered into force. To support the work of officials in local governments, the Ministry of Development and Technology has prepared a series of stationary and online trainings.
The amendment to the Act on Spatial Planning and Development introduces a new planning tool – a general plan of a commune in the rank of a local law act, which is to be adopted obligatorily for the entire area of the commune. Municipalities will have until January 1, 2026 to adopt it. We do not leave local governments alone - we give them real tools for space planning. In addition, we have prepared changes in the procedure to streamline the development of local plans and an integrated investment plan – a new special form of local plan allowing for quick and transparent preparation of areas for investment. All this creates opportunities for faster acquisition of land for housing construction and thus a greater supply of apartments – says the Minister of Development and Technology Waldemar Buda.
The main idea that guided us was to reform the spatial planning system so that it would be more flexible and that municipalities could more efficiently and quickly adopt new and change existing spatial planning acts – adds Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Piotr U?ci?ski.
Changes in spatial planning are also the result of the ongoing integration of socio-economic planning systems with spatial planning. It is a method to strengthen the role of spatial planning in the process of implementing development policy.
New planning and development rules
As a result of the integration of planning systems, the general plan of the municipality, in terms of determining the directions of spatial development, will replace the existing study of conditions and directions of spatial development of the commune, while the spatial policy of the commune will become an element of the commune's development strategy. The general plan of the municipality will be a document containing only the basic arrangements that will allow the municipality to plan a balanced and harmonious development. Importantly, its findings will be the basis not only for adopting local plans, but also for issuing decisions on development conditions.
A new form of the local plan will be an integrated investment plan prepared at the investor's request, which will ultimately replace the resolution on determining the location of a housing investment, previously issued on the basis of the so-called special housing act, but the tool can be used to determine the purpose of the area also for all types of investments. During negotiations with the municipality, the investor will be able to commit, for example, to the construction of a school, support for such an investment or expansion of technical infrastructure, which will be confirmed by signing an urban planning agreement. The urban planning agreement will be public and subject to publication on the BIP website, and in the future in the Urban Planning Register.
The draft clarifies the provisions concerning the decision on development conditions, m.in through the possibility for the municipality to determine in the general plan of the municipality the area where such a decision can be issued, and the maximum range of the analyzed area is limited to 200 m.
The Act also provides for the launch of a free and accessible to all interested Urban Planning Register kept on-line, which will be a reliable source of information about the space and all conducted administrative procedures.
Training for officials
In connection with the entry into force of the Act amending the Act on Spatial Planning and Development and some other acts, the Ministry of Agriculture and Development is preparing training for local government employees, which will take place on 18 and 19 October.
The subject of the training will be a cross-sectional familiarization of participants with the changes introduced by the provisions of the Act. The detailed scope of the training is currently in preparation.
It will be possible to take part in the training in a stationary form (250 places are planned) and online. The information, along with details on registration and the choice of the form of participation, will be sent directly to the municipalities. The training will be free of charge.
The Ministry of Culture and Technology will inform municipalities directly about further trainings or we will announce them on the ministry's website.
Spatial planning - implementing rules
Currently, work is underway on the adoption of regulations that should be issued in connection with the entry into force of the amendment. Intensive work concerns seven regulations, of which the draft content can be viewed on the RCL website:
Draft regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology amending the regulation on spatial data sets and metadata in the field of spatial development: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12375301
Draft regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology on determining the template of the application form concerning the spatial planning act: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12375305
Draft regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology on the method of preparing the draft general plan of the municipality: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12376658
The remaining draft regulations will be submitted for public consultation in the near future. However, the regulation on the Urban Register will be prepared and announced at a later date.
