Santa Oliva suspends energy licenses on non-urbanizable land for one year

The Santa Oliva City Council has optionally and provisionally suspended, for one year and with the possibility of extension, the processing and granting of urban planning licenses on non-developable land for photovoltaic solar parks, wind farms, overhead electrical evacuation lines, and telecommunications towers. The agreement was adopted by the plenary session in an ordinary meeting on September 24, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona on October 30, 2026 (CVE 2026-09986, pp. 1-2), signed by the mayor, Christian Martínez Rodríguez.

The text is part of file 2089/2026 and is titled “optional and provisional suspension of the granting of licenses on non-developable land.” The measure is not limited to energy projects: it generally affects the subdivision of land, construction, renovation, rehabilitation, or demolition of buildings, and the installation or expansion of specific activities and uses within the Non-Developable Land (SNU) area of the municipal district delimited for this purpose, according to the technical report accompanying the agreement.

What is halted

The material scope of the suspension is specified in four types of actions, all linked to energy and communications infrastructure:

• Photovoltaic solar parks.
• Wind farms.
• Overhead electrical evacuation lines and associated substations.
• Telecommunications towers and antennas.

The decision comes after the municipal Technical Services reported on the need to provide non-developable land with its own regulation, given the volume of projects that have requested to be implemented in the district.

One extendable year and effects on current files

The initial duration of the suspension is one year counted from the publication of the agreement, with the possibility of being extended for a second year in accordance with Article 74 of the Revised Text of the Urban Planning Law of Catalonia (TRLUC). The document expressly sets a time ceiling: if the modification of the POUM is subsequently initially approved and the suspension of Article 73.2 of the TRLUC is agreed upon, the accumulated period may not exceed two years.

The effects on developers are not immediate. The agreement establishes that the suspension may affect licenses in process once it has been published and has become definitive. Dissemination will be carried out in the Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona, in a newspaper with wider circulation in the region, and on the municipal website, www.santaoliva.cat.

POUM modification and notifications

In parallel, the plenary agreed to formally begin the drafting work for the Specific Modification of the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (POUM) on non-developable land. The objective is to implement new regulations and new technical, environmental, agricultural, landscape, and heritage criteria, as reported by the municipal technical services.

The agreement also provides for institutional communication:

• Notification to the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
• Transfer to the municipal areas of Urban Planning, Secretariat and Intervention.

Regarding the challenge, the document specifies that the act is a procedural approval within a procedure for the formation of a general administrative provision and, as such, is not susceptible to any separate challenge. An administrative contentious appeal may be filed against the suspension of processing and licenses before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia within a period of two months, without prejudice to any other legal appeal that may be formulated by those with active standing.

The measure directly affects renewable energy developers who planned to implement projects in the municipality and owners of rural land who wished to subdivide, build, or rehabilitate. It also opens a period of uncertainty for files already submitted, which could remain frozen once the suspension becomes definitive, while the City Council of Santa Oliva drafts the new urban planning regulations for non-urbanizable land.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona, no. 30-10-2026, section I, pp. 1-2 (official reference: CVE 2026-09986).