Pérez-Llorca hosted an event promoted by Urban by CIARE to present the new land planning developments that have come into force with the publication of Law 11/2022, of 21 December, on Urgent Measures for the Promotion of Economic Activity and the Modernisation of the Administration of the Community of Madrid, known as the Omnibus Law.
Speakers included the Deputy Minister for Housing and Land Planning of the Community of Madrid, José María García Gómez, and the Director General for Land Planning of the Community of Madrid, Raimundo Herráiz Romero, who, alongside Fernando Catalán de Ocón, President of Urban by CIARE, and Alberto Ibort, partner in charge of Pérez-Llorca’s Land Planning and Environment practice area, explained the substantial changes introduced by the Omnibus Law to boost economic activity in Madrid, and, in particular, the new urban and land planning regime.
Fernando Catalán de Ocón, president of Urban by CIARE, opened the session by summing up all the actions promoted by the CIARE Group in 2022. He also noted that the event aimed to respond to the keen interest of real estate actors and managers in the new features of the Omnibus Law.
Alberto Ibort, partner of Pérez-Llorca’s Land Planning and Environment practice area, remarked that the Omnibus Law, the draft of which was also presented at Pérez-Llorca’s headquarters in April 2022, provides legislative responses to issues frequently raised over the past decade with regard to Madrid’s land planning legislation, seeking to provide a regulatory framework that offers greater procedural flexibility and the necessary legal certainty.
José María García Gómez, Deputy Minister for Housing and Land Planning of the Community of Madrid, began by explaining how the main objective and aims of the Omnibus Law are to reactivate the region’s economic activity and update the urban and land planning regulations to meet the needs of both Madrid’s citizens and of all actors generating work and investment opportunities for the region.
To this end, he stated that the Omnibus Law provides for the elimination or simplification of bureaucratic burdens and administrative procedures, encouraging public-private collaboration as a necessary mechanism to continue promoting the region of Madrid as a hub for national and international investment in an environment of legal certainty. He also highlighted the effort made by the Administration to bring forward a project as much in demand as the Omnibus Law, which is a clear example of the fact that “commitments are there to be fulfilled”.
Raimundo Herráiz Romero, Director General for Land Planning of the Community of Madrid, then took the floor and gave a detailed legal presentation on the implications of the entry into force of the Omnibus Law.
The Director General highlighted the new regulation on urban land transfers, the extension of the scope of special plans, the exclusion of Detailed Studies and some special plans from the strategic environmental assessment procedure in line with recent case law, the new scenarios for processing Regional Projects and the introduction of mechanisms to optimise public land assets and respond to the need for public housing in the Region of Madrid, before making way for the final contributions from the attendees.
Lastly, José María García Gómez, Deputy Minister for Housing and Land Planning of the Community of Madrid, announced that the region is firmly committed to energising the region by simplifying bureaucratic obstacles and fully updating the land planning legislation (dating from 1995 and 2001), which is why they are analysing the possible text for a new Planning Law of the Community of Madrid that will culminate in positioning the region as one of the pioneering territories in Europe in terms of urban and land planning.