Olot suspends building permits in the Old Town for one year

The Olot City Council has suspended for one year the granting of building permits, prior notifications, responsible declarations, and any other municipal enabling title in the Conservation and Rehabilitation Area (ACR) of the Old Town. The agreement was adopted by the Municipal Plenary in the session of August 27, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 193, of October 7, 2026, with edict number 8634 and official reference BOP-2026_0_193_8634. The edict is signed by the mayor, Agustí Arbós Torrent, dated October 1, 2026.

The measure is part of the preparatory studies for the specific modification of the Olot POUM (General Urban Planning Plan) within the scope of the Old Town Neighborhood Plan. The Plenary agreed to suspend permits under article 73.1 of the Recast Text of the Urban Planning Law of Catalonia, approved by Legislative Decree 1/2010, of August 3, for a term of one year. The associated municipal file is UPL12026000006, with reference number X2026055916, and the body processing the file is the Urban Planning Department.

Scope of the suspension

The agreement halts both the granting of permits and the submission and effectiveness of prior notifications and responsible declarations, as well as any other municipal enabling title that would allow the execution of works within the suspension area. The suspension exclusively affects the territorial area delimited in the map annexed to the agreement, which can be consulted at the link indicated in the edict.

• Building permits.
• Prior notifications and responsible declarations.
• Any other municipal enabling title to execute works.
• Territorial scope: that delimited in the map annexed to the agreement.

Background of the urban planning process

The suspension comes after a long process regarding the declaration of the ACR of the Old Town and the delimitation of the Building Rehabilitation Actions (ARE). The Municipal Plenary initially approved this document on January 22, 2026, and submitted it for public review via an announcement published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 29, of February 12, 2026, with individual notification to the owners included in the area.

Ten objections were submitted during the public review period. The Plenary of July 23, 2026, resolved them following the response report issued on July 16, 2026, by lawyer Daniel Jiménez Schlegl, and agreed to temporarily suspend the processing for the final approval of the integrated document of the ACR and the ARE, until the technical, economic, and legal documentation derived from the objections is completed. This agreement was published in the BOP of Girona no. 180, of September 18, 2026, edict 8140, reference BOP-2026_0_180_8140.

How to appeal the agreement

Against the license suspension agreement, qualified as a procedural administrative act, a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed before the Contentious-Administrative Court of Girona within a period of two months starting from the day following the notification. Optionally, a plea for reversal may also be presented before the same body that issued it, within a period of one month from the day after the notification.

The suspension freezes for twelve months any intervention requiring a municipal enabling title in the protected area of the historic center, meaning that owners and developers in the area will not be able to start new works while the planning modification is being drafted. The impact is direct for those who planned to rehabilitate or renovate properties in this area, who will have to wait for the resumption of the processing or appeal the agreement if they consider it detrimental to them.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Girona, no. 193, October 7, 2026, Local Administration - City Councils, p. 1 (official reference: BOP-2026_0_193_8634).