Public exhibition of the revision of the Arrati Territorial…

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has granted initial approval to the revision of the Partial Territorial Plan for the Arrati functional area. The Council took the decision during a meeting held on October 15, 2026 —item 10 on the day’s agenda— and it was published today, November 5, in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country, with official reference 2026/4689, in the “Announcements – Other official announcements” section. Along with the decision, a public exhibition period of 45 business days has been opened, and the period will be counted from the day following the publication in the official gazette.

Once final approval is obtained, this land-use planning tool will condition the urban planning and land use of the municipalities in Arrati. Consequently, throughout the entire revision procedure, citizens, organizations, and administrations will have the opportunity to review the document and submit allegations. This was established in the agreement, in accordance with the regulations governing land-use planning procedures.

Hearing for stakeholders of the strategic environmental assessment

The Council’s agreement establishes three main tasks. First, it grants the initial approval of the revision. Second, it orders the publication of the agreement, as established by the regulations governing land-use planning. And third, it opens a public exhibition period of 45 business days, and, simultaneously and within the same timeframe, initiates two hearing procedures:

Providing a hearing to all public administrations interested in the territorial area, so that they may make observations and suggestions on the plan.
Consulting all public administrations and interested persons previously consulted in the strategic environmental assessment procedure.

This second path directly concerns public entities and groups related to the environmental field, and their contributions must be incorporated into the final design of the report.

Legal nature of the decision and regulatory basis

The agreement has been processed according to articles 84 and 94 of Law 39/2015, regarding the common administrative procedure, and according to Decree 46/2020, which regulates the procedures for approving land-use plans and urban planning tools. Specifically, article 15 of said decree establishes the public exhibition period, and article 5.1 establishes the publication requirements.

The signatory of the agreement is Carlos Alzaga Sagastasoloa, the Provincial Deputy for Infrastructure and Territorial Development of the Council, who proposed the decision during the meeting. The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has noted that this decision is not subject to appeal, as it is an internal procedural act within the process, prior to final approval.

Consultation of documentation and scope of publication

The text of the agreement itself specifies where it must be published. Current regulations require the publication to be made as follows:

In the Official Gazette of the Basque Country, as is being done today.
In the Official State Gazette.
In the Official Gazette of Bizkaia.
In at least two of the newspapers with the widest circulation in the Autonomous Community.

Furthermore, all documentation is also available for consultation on the Provincial Council of Bizkaia website, which is the most practical way to prepare allegations. The public exhibition period, therefore, in addition to being notified through those channels, will be based on the set of documents posted online.

Preliminary procedure, awaiting final approval

The agreement does not finalize the plan. It opens the review procedure, initiating a phase to receive allegations and verify the document, and this represents only a preliminary step on the path to final approval. The observations and suggestions received during this process must be incorporated into the technical report before the final version of the plan is formed.

The date of publication is no coincidence. On the same day, November 5th, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa also released for public exhibition the reviews of the partial territorial plans for the Goierri and Urola Kosta functional areas, and on October 30th, the review procedure for the Encartaciones region also began in the official gazette. Therefore, a series of territorial planning reviews spans all of Bizkaia and other surrounding regions, and will have an impact on the main urban planning decisions of the municipalities.

What is at stake

As the previous references show, this tool will establish the framework for several years in an inland region like Arratia, where regulating land use directly affects residential development, industry, and the protection of natural areas. The 45-day public exhibition period gives residents, associations, and city councils in those municipalities the opportunity to participate in the process, but at the same time, it sets a tight schedule: the period begins the day after it is published in the official gazette, and allegations should not be submitted to deviate toward issues unrelated to the documents made public for approval.

Fuente: Official Gazette of the Basque Country, 2026/4689, November 5, 2026, Announcements – Other official announcements (official reference: 2026/4689).