The diploma that opens the door to the simplification of city permits, already approved in the specialty (article by article) in the Assembly of the Republic, will go to the government with an extensive list of warnings – and criticism – about the risks of some of the proposed measures. In addition to the professional organizations most directly involved in this matter, the municipalities also have many reservations about the measures outlined in the bill – a legislative authorization that, once approved in a final general vote, will send the concrete definition to the executive. abandon the new rules.
The National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) also issued an “unfavorable” assessment of the diploma, which will now serve as a guideline for subsequent executive legislation. In the document handed over to parliament, the ANMP states that it was heard by the government on a first draft of the proposal last March, and that by then “always rejected that prior communication should become the rule and that permits be reserved for urbanization works and subdivisions”. Just as “he warned of the seriousness of the consequences if one continues to waive the valuation of the architectural project by the municipal services, since the organization and planning are the result of joint consultation and construction, especially between designers and municipal services” . Problems that, say the councils, were not only not solved “as they get closer and worse” in the final version reached Parliament, resulting in a series of proposals “estranged from reality and, even worse, the progress made in recent 30 years in the field of urbanism and planning”. For the ANMP, this “form of legislation does not speed up administration, it weakens it”.
Given the powers vested in them in this area, the municipalities underline that they are “the key to a healthy coexistence between urban operations and territorial planning, where the principle of prior control is the great guarantee of the balance between individual intentions and collective interest ” regarding urban planning. And they argue that what is at stake is a “preemptive, public desideratum” that cannot under any circumstances be seen as a mere expense.
In the advice, the ANMP “a real simplification and not, under the pretext of this, the mere facilitation and lack of accountability that we are witnessing” in the bill. “The abolition of important municipal powers of urban control represents a clear setback for the control of the quality and safety of buildings – which only the intervention, a priori, of the government can syndicate and guarantee -, and entails enormous economic and social costs, very difficult, if not impossible, to recover”, warn the municipalities.
One of the points that deserves particular criticism from the association representing the municipalities – and where the socialists are in the majority – is the abolition of permits for urban operations, a “fundamental” title, for “reasons of certainty and legal certainty, of the safeguarding the interests and protecting the legally protected rights and interests of individuals and citizens”. Remediations that continue to gain momentum in view of the expected shortening of the municipalities’ assessment deadlines, a measure that will be accompanied by the tacit approval of the processes when the municipalities exceed the legal deadlines. Which is “not at all permissible,” the ANMP says: “Ultimately, it would open up the possibility of a manifestly illegitimate license request being executed under terms unilaterally determined by the promoter.without payment of fees and without even the guarantee that the municipality is aware of the tacit approval”. court decision”.
Among the many criticisms, the ANMP also points to the “absurd absence of a transitional arrangement” for the application of the new rules”compounded by its pointless application to current affairs”.
The ANMP document is accompanied by an opinion from the Câmara do Porto (who left the Association of Municipalities in 2022), of a much less critical content, and which speaks of “clearly desirable simplification initiatives”. But given the “magnitude of the proposed changes and as incongruous norms and contradictory concepts are introduced”, the municipality, led by Rui Moreira, defends the elaboration of a new legal regime for urbanization and construction (RJUE). Also in its own opinion, the Câmara de Sintra speaks of a “patchwork quilt” and points to another question: “Is the removal of the need for a use permit for the transfer of property intended to facilitate the commercialization of illegal properties?”.
The criticism of the ANMP joins the repairs of architects, engineers and urban planners, with reservations common to those of the municipalities, in the event of the abolition of the building permit or the tacit approval of the permits. Indeed, the limitation of the capacity of local authorities to intervene in the urban planning of cities is a recurring issue.
Voting on the specialty of the “More Housing” program continues this week, with some of the plan’s most controversial measures, such as the new rules on local housing or forced leasing.
Source: DN
