Development control in Portugal and how it works.

It must be the ambition of every country to manage their territory so as to guarantee to future generations that land and buildings will be properly laid out; that everything will be planned to take into account factors such as national and cultural resources, environmental issues and the division of land on a fair basis between public and private interests.

Zoning, the process by which this is achieved, focuses on the need to improve both the quality of life and standard of living of its inhabitants. It does so by examining and regulating issues such as housing shortages, degenerated areas, the preservation of areas of natural beauty, opportunities for job creation, proper use of agricultural soil and the preservation of coastal areas and rivers. Any actions, whether by the private sector or public bodies alike, which flout the provisions of zoning instruments are invalid.

Zoning operates at three different levels; National, Regional and Municipal. These should not conflict with each other, and each has planning instruments at their own level.

For example, the Regional Plan for the Algarve ‘PROTAL’ must be compatible with the National Plan and Municipal Plans. The regional plans, similarly, must not conflict with either the Regional or the National Plan.

At municipal level there are three main planning instruments:

1) The PDM (Plano Director Municipal - this is based on local development strategy as well as regional and national policy. It is a master plan for the district, and establishes the basic classification and qualification of land, construction densities in accordance with local infrastructures, present and future.

2) The PU (Urbanisation Plan) - this is used whenever a given area or town needs to be planned in its own right, e.g. Sagres, Quinta do Lago and other major developments.

3) The PP (Plano de Pormenor) - this is a Detailed Plan which regulates the use of any given area within the municipality in detail.

Following the hierarchal system, PDMs are passed by the local authority, approved by the Regional Authorities and ratified by the Government.

While Urbanisation Plans are passed by the Local Authority they are subject to approval by the Regional Authorities, and must be ratified by the Government if they do not conform to the PDM to which they are subject, or if for any reason the latter is ineffective. The same principles apply to Detailed Plans. Plans may be partially approved.

Local authorities are responsible for the drawing up of all PDMs, and this is an elaborate process in which the public takes part.

Representations and suggestions may be made by the public to the appointed Committee and a public enquiry must take place. The PDM itself consists of three main documents:

1) A map of the area showing the classification and qualification of land.

2) The regulations.

3) A plan showing utilities and other easements for public purposes, which may limit in some way the use of land.

Equally some government agencies need to be consulted on the viability of any proposed plan - the Ministries of the Environment and Tourism being the most common. Local authorities putting up plans that do not conform to these government agencies own strategies and guidelines will be turned down, or recommendations will be made for their further improvement. The same applies to plans that are sent within the hierarchical system for checking with regional and national authorities; any incompatibility found will result in the plan being returned to the local authority for amendment and resubmission. All of this, together with the considerable resources in both time and money in the drawing up of zoning instruments, often results in substantial delays in their implementation.

No planning instrument is legally valid unless it has been published in the Government Gazette, the Diário da República.

PDMs normally provide for revision after ten years and may be altered, generally speaking, after they have been in force for two or three years. As a number of PDMs in the Algarve came into force between 1993 and 1997, many of these are now under review. The Lagos PDM was suspended three years ago as it had become largely ineffective, and is currently awaiting the implementation of a number of PUs and PPs, which are still in the technical phase in other words, on the drawing board! Equally the Regional Plan for the Algarve PROTAL is also under review.

Whilst PDM’s vary from council to council, their structure is often similar. A council district is covered by a single PDM and, following the above, is not just a planning document. Each PDM sets out those areas within the district, which require protection, such as Costa Vincentina on the west coast of the Algarve. It will define what is considered to be a coastal area (often the land from the coast up to two kilometers inland), the land within the national ecological reserve or the agricultural reserve.

A PDM will list all the monuments and buildings of national interest and cover public buildings, such as churches, schools and hospi tals. Services are also regulated. There will be rules regarding the provision and protection of water, drainage and the sewage system, and electricity. Transport and telecommunications are also included. There are also rules regarding high-risk industries.

In short, a PDM defines how all the land, services, infrastructures and buildings are protected, erected or occupied, but when it comes to zoning for building purposes, PDMs divide the area within its district into two main categories:

1) Urban land.

2) Rural or green belt.

In turn, urban land is further qualified as either:

1) A built up area.

2) land capable of development.

3) land required to maintain an ecological balance within an urban area.

Rural land is also divided into categories, e.g. forestry, natural spaces and cultural spaces.

The maps attached to the PDM regulations show the areas that form part of the national ecological reserve as well as the national agricultural reserve.

While building in the national ecological reserve is not permitted, some building is allowed on the land that has been classified as national agricultural reserve, and each PDM will state precisely what is allowed.

There is a general rule in PDMs that dispersed housing is prohibited, but with every rule there are exceptions, which the PDM clearly states.

Most existing PDMs further divide urban areas up into dif ferent categories and may give special classifications to some parts: for example zones for tourist occupation ‘lOTs’ within which areas of touristic aptitude ‘AAT’ can be found.

There is a set of rules covering each type of land qualified and classified in the PDM.

These include maximum construction areas, size of plots, and height of buildings, residential density, and parking spaces and even, where appropriate, what type of building materials should be used.

For example, in the district of Silves where there are a number of AATs, the PDM states that any “loteamento” or touristic development will have a maximum of 25 hectares and that construction must not exceed 30% of the land in question. It also has rules about maximum bed capacity.

Other areas that have been classified as expansion areas are required under the PDMs to have urbanization or detailed plans drawn up.

In conclusion, no planning permission or building licenses can be issued for land or buildings which don’t comply with provisions of municipal zoning plans, and it is to them that checks must be made whenever development is considered.