Μake us preferred on Google New provisions allowing authorities to suspend construction work, changing how certain municipal roads are officially recognized, addressing land-use regulations and special investment permits are among the amendments added to an Environment and Energy Ministry bill submitted to Parliament following public consultation.
Construction Work Could Be Suspended
One of the amendments would allow authorities to suspend construction already underway in areas covered by Special Urban Plans being prepared for public or municipal bodies. Current legislation allows officials to temporarily stop issuing building permits for certain uses while such plans are being drawn up.
The new provision would extend that power to work on projects that have already obtained permits. The restrictions could cover an entire planning area or specific sections of it, but they would not apply automatically. A suspension would require an opinion from the relevant Central Council and a recommendation setting out the reasons for the decision from the secretary-general for Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, followed by a formal administrative order. Construction would therefore not necessarily stop simply because an area is covered by a Special Urban Plan. Authorities would have to impose the restriction through the prescribed procedure.
New Rules for Roads Outside Urban Plans
The bill also changes the process for officially recognizing certain municipal and community roads, an important consideration for owners of land outside approved urban plans. The legal status of the road providing access to a plot is among the factors used to determine whether construction is allowed. The amendment covers roads linking settlements within the same municipality, settlements in neighboring municipalities, and settlements with international, national or provincial roads.
Where several roads connect the same settlements, the provision would apply only to the principal route. Under the proposed system, recognition of these roads would be granted through a presidential decree, changing both the authority responsible for the decision and the legal procedure involved.The change is limited to these specific categories of roads. It does not extend to all rural or private roads, nor does it replace the separate process for recording and formally approving the broader municipal public road network.
New Requirements Near Settlement Boundaries
Another provision concerns settlements whose boundaries were previously drawn by authorities that lacked the legal power to establish them. The bill addresses certain plots situated between newly defined settlement boundaries and the older limits, where special land-use regulations may apply.
In these designated Special Use Areas, planning rules could set minimum plot sizes of between 2,000 and 4,000 square meters, with at least 15 meters of frontage on a public road.
Any construction would also have to comply with the additional requirements of the relevant plan. The provision does not establish a general right to build on plots measuring 2,000 square meters. It applies only to the specified areas and under the conditions set out in the relevant planning regulations.
Changes to Building Permit Checks
The legislation would also remove certain administrative checks for building permits issued directly by the Environment and Energy Ministry. Under the standard procedure, a project’s construction budget is checked through the electronic permitting system. Until that function is available, local building authorities must carry out the check within three days of issuing a permit.
The proposed exemption applies to permits issued by the ministry’s Directorate of Architecture, Building Regulations and Permits and its dedicated office for the Ellinikon development. For these permits, the specified supporting documents would no longer undergo the usual checks. Instead, the engineers who prepare them would be responsible for their accuracy, within the scope of their professional duties.
The legislation also retains existing restrictions on buildings with serious unauthorized construction violations, known as Category 5. It does not reopen the general registration process for privately owned properties in this category that were not previously brought under an earlier legalization scheme.
Source: TA NEA
