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A new law is coming to the Valencia region that will reduce red tape in regards to building permissions on urban land.
The regional government has developed legislation to streamline bureaucracy and land management.
The critics have expressed concern that the new law will result in a reduction of land for the much needed social housing. This has been denied by the administration.
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The current law was first introduced in 2014, and has undergone two changes over the past decade.
It was designed to end the urban planning excesses prevalent at the dawn of the new century. This led to corruption cases.
The new law will allow for greater flexibility in the management of urban land, including scrapping the building license requirement for projects involving public-private partnerships as well as individual and municipal owners.
According to the government, construction delays will be reduced by reducing complexity of procedures.
The new legislation also regulates thousands of buildings that are already in place but have not been legalised.
Even though such properties are not legal, they will receive individual orders that guarantee their security.
Gerardo Roger is a former Valencian urban planner and architect. El Pais newspaper that the measure would cause ‘too much deregulation which in many cases would be undesirable’.
He is concerned that important safeguards for urban planning are being ‘readjusted’.
They include an economic viability report for a project to work out the capital gains generated and which guarantees ‘public participation’ in getting benefits.
He says there will be less land set aside for social housing, and for other facilities such as a library or school.
The socialist Maria Jose Salvador, Valencia’s ex-urban planning minister, has stated that the new law may reduce bureaucracy, but will bring less guarantees and legal certainty.
“It is another step to ensure new housing is done in the interest of business and not as a guarantee of people’s rights,” said he.
The region’s Land Ministry said changes had to be made because the current law is ‘excessively rigid and slow’, but insisted that there will not be a ‘free for all’.
This statement clarifies that the percentage of land allocated for social housing is not changing, but only how it will be distributed within each municipality.
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