Cantabria approves an urgent law to allow university uses on endowment land

The Parliament of Cantabria has approved Cantabria Law 10/2026, of October 13, on urgent urban planning measures, which modifies Article 61 of Cantabria Law 5/2022, of July 15, on Territorial Planning and Urbanism of Cantabria. The regulation is published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria (BOC no. 199, of October 16, 2026, pages 52822 to 52824), with the official reference CVE-2026-8070, and enters into force the day following its publication, that is, October 17, 2026.

The law consists of a single article, a single repealing provision, and a single final provision regarding its entry into force. It was promulgated on October 13, 2026, at the Government Palace of Cantabria by the regional president, María José Sáenz de Buruaga Gómez, in the name of the King and under Article 15.2 of the Statute of Autonomy for Cantabria.

The preamble justifies the urgency based on the evolution of the university system: campuses have ceased to be exclusively teaching spaces to become environments for research, knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship, and collaboration with the productive sector. The current wording of Cantabria Law 5/2022 did not expressly contemplate this reality, which created interpretative doubts regarding the urban planning of campuses and the implementation of innovation facilities.

What changes in Article 61

The modification adds a new paragraph to section 3 of Article 61, which regulates open spaces and general system facilities. The resulting text maintains the requirement that municipal planning provide for land, airspace, or buildability for general, administrative services, and social facilities, and specifies that uses on university campuses intended to foster the business fabric and entrepreneurship shall be considered educational facilities.

Among the expressly recognized uses are:

• Offices intended for “coworking” spaces and digital “hubs.”
• Business incubators and nurseries.
• Experimentation workshops and laboratories.
• Offices dedicated to activities linked to R&D&i.

The preamble emphasizes that the regulation does not alter the general regime of facilities nor introduce autonomous lucrative uses or those disconnected from the university purpose. Its stated objective is to provide greater legal certainty to spaces functionally linked to university activity.

Rotational and collaborative housing

The new text also defines two types of endowment facilities. Rotational housing facilities are publicly owned residential buildings suitable for rotational habitation, intended for people with difficulties accessing legal housing: students, persons under Administration guardianship, the elderly, people with disabilities, and other groups. They may also be intended for people affected by urban planning actions, for the time necessary until their return or relocation.

Collaborative housing is defined as residential complexes with a substitute function for the family home, promoted by landowners under a cooperative regime, which combine private accommodation spaces with community areas. Their facilities and common services must include, at a minimum:

• Offices for social assistance and medical care.
• Spaces for preventive and rehabilitation therapies.
• Cleaning and maintenance services.
• Security devices and systems.
• Catering services.
• Specific plans for social, cultural, sporting, and leisure activities.

The design of the spaces must guarantee suitability and accessibility for elderly people or people with disabilities. Furthermore, the use of rotational housing and endowment housing may be implemented on the same plot as other public service endowment uses under a horizontal property regime, provided that the functional compatibility of both public uses is proven.

Scope and validity

The sole repealing provision nullifies any provisions of equal or lower rank that oppose the new law. The entry into force is set for the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of Cantabria, without an additional vacatio legis period, consistent with the urgent nature declared by the title of the regulation itself.

The modification directly affects the municipal planning of all of Cantabria, which must include these uses in the organization of general systems, and the promoters of university, innovation, and endowment housing facilities, who will have an express urban fit for their projects.

The approval clears the main uncertainty pointed out by the legislator: the lack of express coverage for laboratories, incubators, co-working spaces, and R&D+i offices within campuses. With the new wording, these uses are assimilated into educational equipment and no longer depend on case-by-case interpretations, which provides legal certainty to universities, companies, and city councils when processing licenses and developing endowment land.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, no. 199, of October 16, 2026, section 1. General Provisions, pp. 52822-52824 (official reference: CVE-2026-8070).