The Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government, has begun work on a draft law to simplify urban planning and environmental procedures, with the stated aim of speeding up housing construction licences and reducing delays for other business and industrial projects.

For residents, developers and companies waiting on permits, the main practical change is a proposed fast-track system that could reduce building licence checks from an average of nine months in Barcelona to one month, while broader urban planning procedures that can now take up to a year would be cut to between one and two months, according to the Government's presentation on Monday.

The measure, formally titled the draft bill for the simplification of procedures in the urban and environmental sphere, is due to remain open to public consultation until September and the Government expects approval in December, according to the source text published on Monday.

With this draft bill, they are doing "good politics, useful politics", as well as implementing "a change of mentality".

President Salvador Illa announced the plan at a Government event at the Ebro factory on the former Nissan site in Zona Franca, Barcelona.

Three procedures targeted in the draft law

The draft focuses on three areas where the Generalitat says bureaucracy is slowing projects without changing the underlying legal requirements.

  • Building permits: checks for new builds, refurbishments and changes of use.
  • Urban planning procedures: the approvals that define land use, such as industrial or urban land.
  • Environmental authorisations: permits required before certain developments can proceed.

The Government says the law would amend up to 15 regulations. It argues that the change is procedural rather than deregulatory, meaning requirements would stay in place while files move faster through the system.

How the permit fast track would work

Under the proposal, developers would be allowed to submit a certificate confirming that a project complies with legal and technical requirements. That document could be prepared by an Urban Area Certification Collaborating Entity, known by the Catalan acronym ECAU, made up of authorised private-sector firms or professionals such as architects, planners or engineers.

The Department of the Presidency says those entities would be supervised and audited. Local councils would still decide, through municipal ordinance, whether to use the express route or keep the traditional procedure.

If a council uses the express route, it would have to grant the licence within one month. If it keeps the ordinary route, the draft says the process cannot exceed the two months already set by law. If that deadline is missed, the fast-track route would be triggered automatically, according to the Government's plan.

The source text says building permit procedures that legally should take two months are in practice lasting far longer, reaching an average of nine months at Barcelona City Council and more than a year in some cases.

Private certifications also proposed for planning reports

The draft law would apply a similar model to urban planning procedures, which currently require reports from multiple departments before approval. For an industrial development, for example, the source text says promoters may need validation from areas including environment, Civil Protection, the Catalan Water Agency and commercial facilities.

Under the new model, the entrepreneur or developer would be able to provide sector-specific certifications prepared by accredited professionals. If the Administration does not issue its own reports on time, the privately prepared reports would take precedence.

The Generalitat says this could reduce planning timeframes from up to 12 months to between one and two months.

Environmental procedure changes and consultation timetable

On environmental authorisations, the Government says it is not lowering environmental protection standards. However, it proposes removing the current "sufficiency and suitability" stage and replacing it with a system in which the developer must submit the full required documentation from the start.

The draft would also remove the mandatory and binding character of the municipal report in that process, according to the source text.

Albert Dalmau, the conseller of the Presidency, separately told a parliamentary committee that the preliminary report for the bill marks the start of the Generalitat's law-making process. According to reports cited in the source material, the text will go through public consultation before a final draft is prepared and then sent for parliamentary processing.

People who want to follow the proposal can monitor updates through the Generalitat's legislative process once the consultation phase is formally published. The source material states that consultation is expected to remain open until September, but does not provide a direct official consultation portal link.

Reported by Source Text Link, eldiario.es, Laura Casserres Capdevila, Quim Bertomeu, César Martínez, larazon.es, diaridetarragona.com, Fernando H. Valls, Rafa Roldán.