A list of questions and answers regarding the legislative regulation for settlements with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

This specific regulation was presented earlier today in a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou, and Deputy Minister Nikos Tagaras. With this regulation, which will be submitted to Parliament within the day, the existing limits in more than 9 out of 10 small settlements are essentially maintained, protecting both the property rights of owners and the demographic prospects of the regions.

Below is the full list of questions and answers:

1. What problem has arisen with the settlements?

The Council of State annulled — through a series of decisions in 2017, 2019, and 2022 — the settlement boundaries in Lasithi, Pelion, and Paros, which had been set by Prefectural decisions. Specifically, the Council of State ruled the Prefects incompetent and the delimitation criteria they followed inadequate.

These decisions, on the one hand, led these settlements to building inactivity, as not a single building permit was issued there for many years until today; on the other hand, they potentially called into question the delimitation of the remaining 12,000 settlements with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants across Greece, which are not institutionalized by Presidential Decree but by Prefectural decisions.

2. What did the Presidential Decree (PD) proposed by the Ministry of Environment and Energy provide?

The PD defined the criteria and methodology for delimiting settlements before 1983 and with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. These must be considered by planners during the delimitation of settlements, whether when preparing Local and Special Urban Plans or through independent delimitation studies throughout the country. For the first time, the fragmented legislation that applied to settlements before 1923 and to settlements under 2,000 inhabitants was unified, updated, and made coherent. For this reason, the new PD restored the value of properties and established legal certainty in the country’s settlements. Moreover, the signing of the PD was absolutely necessary for studies to proceed without delay and to ensure the implementation of the flagship “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program.

3. Does the PD concern all settlements in the country?

No, the PD’s scope excludes:

i) settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants

ii) new settlements after 1983

iii) coastal settlements included in Residential Control Zones (ZOE), in specific regional units such as Attica, Evia, Corinthia, Thessaloniki, Pieria, and Halkidiki.

4. What issue arose during the processing of the PD at the Council of State?

The issue arose after the Council of State rejected Zone C (at the outer boundaries of the settlements that had been delimited) and concerned exclusively undeveloped land in this Zone C of settlements with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and only in cases where the prefectural delimitation decisions did not meet the required scientific criteria.

5. What solution does the Ministry of Environment and Energy propose?

The Ministry aims to resolve this pending issue by introducing two new urban planning tools: i. the Settlement Development Zone (Z.A.O.) and ii. the Special Use Area (P.E.X.), with consideration of the demographic challenge faced by these settlements, the protection of acquired bona fide property rights, and the stability of the state-citizen relationship. Through these tools, regulatory ambiguity is resolved, the prospects of small settlements are strengthened, respecting the identity and historical heritage of each place, aiming for a spatially secure Greece, developmentally strong, with priority on decentralization and demographic support.

6. What do the two new urban planning tools provide?

The Settlement Development Zone (Z.A.O.) is a new urban planning tool to support and strengthen the regional network of settlements within the framework of addressing demographic issues and supporting decentralization. It is located within a settlement and resembles Zone B1.

It applies to settlements of up to 700 inhabitants. Through this tool, the possibility is foreseen that, during the delimitation of settlements within the “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program, their boundary may be extended beyond Zone B1 up to the current settlement boundary, upon special documentation.

In the Z.A.O., plots will be considered buildable with a minimum buildable area from 500 sq.m to 2,000 sq.m and a minimum frontage length of 10 m on a public road. The buildable area and minimum frontage length on a public road will be detailed in the PD delimiting the settlement. Other building parameters and restrictions follow those defined for Zone B1. Permitted land uses may be those allowed in Zones B and B1, upon documentation.

The Special Use Area (P.E.X.) is an urban planning tool for settlements with a population of 701 to 2,000 inhabitants. In these settlements, during delimitation in the “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program, the area extending beyond Zone B1 up to the current settlement boundary may be defined as P.E.X. In P.E.X., plots will be considered buildable with a minimum buildable area from 2,000 sq.m to 4,000 sq.m and a minimum frontage length of 15 m on a public road. Permitted land uses may be those allowed in Zones B and B1, upon documentation, based on the special characteristics of the area to avoid conflicts and uncontrolled natural resource consumption.

7. Why is the Ministry introducing this regulation now?

The immediate signing of the PD was a necessary prerequisite to provide the required guidance to planners of Local and Special Urban Plans and thus ensure the implementation of the flagship “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program, the greatest spatial organization reform since the founding of the Greek state. When preparing Local and Special Urban Plans, planners start from the core of the settlement and gradually extend their study toward the outer zones. Therefore, any delay in PD approval would jeopardize the entire “Konstantinos Doxiadis” program, a milestone of the Recovery and Resilience Fund. At the same time, it is introduced with a focus on decentralization and responding to the demographic challenge.

8. Is this legislative intervention fragmentary or part of a broader urban planning reform?

Currently, a substantial urban planning reform is underway in our country, the first in over 100 years. The Ministry of Environment and Energy is codifying urban planning legislation and implementing the flagship “Konstantinos Doxiadis” planning program for the entire country. For the first time, order is being brought to spatial planning with clear rules, with a budget nearing one billion euros, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Fund. It includes:

1. 227 Local Urban Plans for 731 Municipal Units
2. 18 Special Urban Plans for 99 Municipal Units
3. 12 Independent Settlement Delimitation Studies
4. Independent Study for Building Factor Reception Zones (Z.Y.S.)
5. Independent Study for the Characterization of Municipal Roads.