Vigo approves the new urban planning license ordinance

The Plenary of the City Council of Vigo, in an ordinary session on July 27, 2026, definitively approved the new wording of the Municipal Ordinance regulating the processing of urban planning licenses and other forms of administrative intervention, which affects all urban works and interventions in the city. The agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Pontevedra (BOPPO) number 172, on September 8, 2026, under file 1107/400 (Plenary File 5540/1101).

The approval incorporates the full acceptance of the allegations presented during the public information process by the presidency of the Vigo Delegation of the Official College of Architects of Galicia, whose corrections were integrated into the final text. The regulation will not enter into force until the mandatory full publication is carried out, in accordance with article 70.2 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of Local Regime.

A regulation adapted to new legislation

The ordinance replaces the one in force since 2013, approved by the Plenary on 10/28/2013 and published in BOPPO No. 235, on December 9 of that year, which had been subject to successive modifications of its annexes between 2014 and 2024. The new wording responds to the profound regulatory modifications produced in the last decade, among which stand out:

• Law 9/2013, of December 19, on entrepreneurship and economic competitiveness of Galicia, which eliminates the prior opening license and establishes prior communication as the general regime.
• Decree 144/2016, of September 22, which approves the Single Regulation for the integrated regulation of economic activities and the opening of establishments (RIAE).
• Law 2/2016, of February 10, on the Land of Galicia, and its implementing regulation.
• Royal Decree-Law 20/2021, of December 21, which eliminates the license requirement for the installation of electric vehicle charging points, replaced by responsible declarations.

Deadlines and intervention regime

The ordinance regulates the three means of municipal intervention: prior license, prior communication, and responsible declaration, and establishes clear deadlines for their processing:

• Urban planning licenses must be granted or denied within a maximum period of three months from the entry of the complete documentation into the municipal registry.
• Once this period has elapsed without an express resolution, administrative silence will operate in the legally established manner, without licenses being acquired in any case against the legislation or urban planning.
• The expiration of construction licenses will be declared when execution is not started within six months or not completed within three years from their granting, or when the work is interrupted for more than six months.

The agreement ends the administrative route, therefore a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed against the provision before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia within two months from the full publication. The delegated councilwoman for the Area of Urbanism and Housing, María José Caride Estévez, signs the announcement.

Impact for the citizenry

The new ordinance simplifies and streamlines urban planning procedures in Vigo, reducing administrative hurdles for works and economic activities and adapting the city to the service liberalization framework. For neighbors, professionals, and companies, it means greater predictability in resolution deadlines and a clearer regime of prior communication and responsible declaration for smaller-scale interventions.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Pontevedra (BOPPO), no. 172, September 8, 2026, Local Administration section (official reference: file 1107/400, Plenary File 5540/1101).