On the 24th of December 2021 the new Andalusian planning law (“LISTA” Spanish acronym) came into force which substitutes the former one enacted in 2002 which has been amended in numerous occasions and caused many disputes and the cancellation of many municipal planning.
LISTA encompasses in a single law all planning related law for Andalusia. It follows the lines of the national land law and tries to distinguish the autonomic and municipal jurisdiction in planning matters. In the coming six months, further regulations to further determine how to enforce the LISTA is expected.
The new law adds important changes to how land is classified, where the former urban, buildable and non-buildable classification disappear and there will only be urban land and rural land.
In terms of illegal properties, a new team of inspectors will be created as to further control building on rural land to avoid social, environmental and economic damage.
Urban plans will now be simplified with the intent to shorten timelines. Former plans will be divided in two different plans: one in which the planning of a city the city will be laid in general terms and another for the part that corresponds to the urban area. By doing this, if any of them are ever challenged, it would not affect the validity of both.
Current urban plans will continue to be valid and any possible amendments that were under arrangements at the time of this new law coming into force, will not affect such amendments as this could create legal uncertainty.
A new type of urban plan with a much-simplified procedure has been made available for municipalities of less than 10.000 inhabitants.