Regional government agrees to partial suspension of urban planning in Xàbia
The measure has been adopted in response to a request from Xàbia Council.
Saturday 6th April 2021 | MIKE SMITH
The regional government has approved the agreement by which the General Urban Planning Plan of Xàbia (PGOU) is partially suspended and the approval procedure of ‘Urgent Transitional Rules’ for the suspended areas of this municipality begins.
In 2011, Xàbia Council began the revision of the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) that had been in force since 1990 and, in accordance with the nomenclature of the current Law 5/2014, of the Generalitat Valenciana, of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and Landscape (LOTUP), the PGOU in process was renamed the General Structural Plan (PGE).
The plenary session of the Xàbia City Council determined to submit the preliminary version of the PGE to public consultation and decided to suspend licenses and programming agreements in the areas of the PGE where there was no compatibility between the old and the new ordinance, as well as the Integrated Action Programs (PAI) incompatible with the new ordinance established in the PGE. The aforementioned license suspension expired on June 7, 2019.
Also by means of a plenary agreement, the council has expressed to the Generalitat Valenciana the need to preserve the arrangement proposed in the PGE in process, since it is understood that it is in the public interest. Thus, it considers it advisable to take advantage of the possibility of planning suspension provided for in the LOTUP.
This plenary agreement also specifies in detail, for each of the areas indicated, the need for this suspension. In this sense, the request to suspend the effectiveness of the PGOU 1990/1991 is not global in nature, but is only proposed with respect to zones and areas that are duly identified.
Thus, the Department of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility considers that Xàbia Council has adequately justified the need for its suspension proposal, both with regard to the preservation of the new PGE (and the public interest that this measure entails), as with respect to the guarantee of economic sustainability and the maintenance without alterations of free competition in the real estate offer within the municipal boundaries of Xàbia.
The legal report of the General Directorate of Urbanism has revealed the legal viability of the suspension proposed by the municipality, as well as the need to issue ‘Urgent Transitional Rules’ for the scope of suspension until its release occurs, in accordance to the report issued by the Lawyers’ Office of the Generalitat Valenciana. These rules will have to be submitted to the process of public information prior to their approval.
The practical application of the suspension and that of the ‘Urgent Transitional Rules’ correspond to the Xàbia Council, which must justify its application in each specific case, and in particular in the requests for urban planning licenses that are affected.
The suspension will enter into force with the publication of this regional government agreement, in order to avoid that an eventual request for a works license may hinder or contravene the preservative purpose pursued by it. The suspension will be maintained until the entry into force of the PGE of Xàbia and, in any case, will end four years after the publication of this agreement.
The ‘Urgent Transitional Rules’, on the contrary, will have to follow their specific procedure, which includes the process of public information, after which their approval and subsequent entry into force will take place.
Information Source
Press Release – Generalitat Valenciana
