Salamanca approves the modification of the PGOU that regulates residential use

The Plenary of the Salamanca City Council definitively approved on November 5, 2026, the specific modification no. 28 of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU), regarding the regulation of residential use in chapters 7.2 and 7.7 of its Urban Planning Regulations. The agreement, signed by the Councilor for Development, J. Fernando Carabias Acosta, is published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León (BOCYL) no. 220, dated November 13, 2026, under file 2/2025/MDPG and reference CV: BOCYL-D-13112026-220-54.

The regulation originates from the Plenary agreement of November 6, 2025, which initially approved the text at the initiative of the City Council itself. The file was subsequently subjected to a two-month public information process, with announcements in the local press on December 3, 2025, in the BOCYL on December 10, 2025, and on the municipal website on December 19, 2025. The final document was formalized with CSV 16341552634251134417.

The text reached the Plenary with a favorable report from the Information Commission on Development and Heritage, meeting on October 30, 2026, in which the non-affiliated councilwoman and the Popular Municipal Group voted in favor, and the non-affiliated councilman, the Mixed Municipal Group, and the Socialist Municipal Group abstained. The plenary competence derives from article 22.2 c) of Law 7/1985, of April 2, regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, which requires an absolute majority.

A detailed planning reform for the entire municipality

This is a detailed planning modification whose influence extends to the entire municipal district of Salamanca, regardless of the land classification. Its purpose is to update various articles of chapter 7.2, “Residential Use,” and chapter 7.7, “Uses in existing buildings,” both of Title VII of the Urban Planning Regulations.

The file maintains that there is no reconsideration of the general planning, nor an increase in urban or developable land areas or the number of planned dwellings; therefore, a planning review is not applicable. The current PGOU, approved by Order FOM/59/2007, of January 22, has kept these parameters practically intact since then, and the report justifies the reform due to changes in housing models and family units.

One allegation upheld and another dismissed

The Socialist Municipal Group, through its spokesperson José Luis Mateos Crespo (registry no. 2026011512, of February 10, 2026), requested the inclusion of the definition of tourist-use dwellings as a new class of residential use in article 7.2.1. The allegation was dismissed: residential use is defined as that intended for the “permanent accommodation of people,” therefore tourist and temporary accommodation is excluded.

The proposal submitted by Álvaro Rey Perille, technical architect of the Official College of Surveyors and Technical Architects of Salamanca (registration no. 2026012373, dated February 13, 2026), was successful. The new wording of article 7.2.4.4ª requires that the useful area of the fourth typology exceeds 30 m² and that an obstacle-free rectangle of 18 m² can be inscribed with a shorter side of at least three meters, adjacent to the wall of the lighting and ventilation opening, instead of the rigid three-by-six meter rectangle.

What changes in the regulations

• Article 7.2.5 is eliminated, and the “apartment” becomes the fourth housing typology of article 7.2.4.
• The mandatory requirement for a bidet in bathrooms and the restriction on the living-dining-kitchen area in dwellings with three or more bedrooms are removed.
• Articles 7.2.7.bis, regarding professional offices, and 7.2.8.bis, regarding domestic storage rooms, are created.
• The double-door lobby in the fourth typology is made more flexible, and the minimum clear height of 2.40 m in the kitchen, which contradicted the 2.20 m limit, is eliminated.
• Point 3 of article 7.7.1 is added, providing definitions for “Complete Development” and “Complete Building,” and regulates wall works without energy purposes and those for universal accessibility.
• The definition of community residence is completed to avoid confusion with tourist accommodations.

The file incorporates favorable sectoral reports from the Urban Planning Service of the General Directorate of Housing, Architecture and Urbanism, from the General Directorate of Heritage of Castilla y León —with a pronouncement from the Cultural Heritage Commission—, from the Government Sub-delegation in Salamanca, from the Provincial Council of Salamanca, and from the Duero Hydrographic Confederation. The technical and legal reports from the Licensing and Planning Area and the General Secretariat are also included.

The agreement exhausts the administrative route and may be challenged through a contentious-administrative appeal before the High Court of Justice of Castilla y León, in its Contentious-Administrative Chamber in Valladolid, within two months from the day following its notification. Its publication complies with article 175.2 of the Urban Planning Regulations of Castilla y León, approved by Decree 22/2004, of January 29.

Impact on the city’s urban planning

The modification establishes the conditions that new homes and developments in Salamanca must meet, in addition to regulating renovations and changes of use in existing buildings, a particularly sensitive issue in the consolidated city center. The same Plenary session on November 5 also approved modification no. 29, regarding the use of garage-parking, while modification no. 27, dedicated to tourist accommodation, was still being drafted, meaning that municipal residential regulation is undergoing a coordinated update of several chapters.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León, no. 220, November 13, 2026, III. Local Administration, page 490 (official reference: CV: BOCYL-D-13112026-220-54).