With the new regulation, which will be submitted to Parliament today, existing building limits are maintained in more than 9 out of 10 small settlements, protecting both property owners’ rights and the demographic prospects of the regions. The legislative regulation provides urban planning security for settlements with fewer than 2,000 residents and was presented today, Tuesday, at a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, and Deputy Minister Nikos Tagara.
The regulation introduces two new urban planning tools. The first, the Settlement Development Zone, concerns communities with populations up to 700 residents, which constitute the vast majority, and ensures building possibilities up to current limits. This way, all villages across the country are secured under urban planning regulations, covering approximately 93% of settlements under 2,000 residents.
The second tool, the Land Use Control Area, will cover settlements with 701 to 2,000 residents and provides more favorable provisions compared to out-of-plan construction.
It should be noted that in approximately 150 settlements in Rethymno and Pelion, the Council of State annulled the boundaries that had been previously established by Prefect decisions. This led to construction inactivity, as no building permits were issued there, while potentially questioning the demarcation of other settlements across the country that are not institutionalized by Presidential Decree.
The Presidential Decree that followed in April 2025 led to legal certainty in settlement construction across the country. However, after the rejection of zone C by the Council of State, the issue with peripheral parts of settlements remained open, which is now being resolved with the new legislative regulation.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated: “I want to congratulate the Ministry for the comprehensive initiatives it has undertaken on critical issues of the country’s urban planning. An extremely ambitious plan is being launched, where the country will acquire special spatial planning frameworks across the entire territory for the first time. Within this very large, often called ‘silent’ reform – because it doesn’t get as much media coverage – we are also solving the issue that recently concerned public opinion regarding settlement boundaries, where there was considerable misinformation about what the recently published Presidential Decree does and doesn’t do.
To put it simply, as the Minister said, for all settlements under 700 residents – practically the overwhelming majority of the country’s settlements – existing boundaries will essentially be maintained as they were drawn decades ago, so absolutely nothing changes.
For settlements between 700 and 2,000 residents, a flexible tool will be created that will allow construction in areas that essentially occupy the existing zone C, with greater flexibility than currently provided for out-of-plan construction.
So I believe that with today’s announcements, a significant uncertainty and pending issue is resolved for a very large part of Greece’s rural population.
I want to emphasize again that these provisions are necessary not only to bring order to the space, but to support the countryside, our demographic policy, and encourage citizens to return to their villages with maximum speed and urban planning flexibility.”
Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou noted: “A new legislative regulation for settlements in the country under 2,000 residents, which will be submitted to Parliament later today. A regulation that takes into account the needs for rural reinforcement and the major demographic challenge.
As is known, with the Council of State decisions of 2017 and 2019, boundaries that had been established by Prefect decision in 150 settlements in Rethymno and Pelion were annulled, resulting in urban planning inactivity in these specific 150 settlements, while simultaneously creating urban planning insecurity in all settlements under 2,000 residents.
The Presidential Decree that followed in April 2025 certainly leads to legal certainty in the construction of these settlements, however, after the rejection of zone C by the Council of State, the issue with peripheral parts of settlements remained open.
This is what we are solving today, with the introduction of two new urban planning tools: for settlements up to 700 residents, which incidentally constitute the vast majority of settlements, the possibility of construction up to their current boundary is ensured, with the urban planning tool of the settlement development zone, for reasons of addressing demographics and strengthening the periphery.
For the remaining settlements, from 701 to 2,000 residents, the urban planning tool of land use control areas is provided, which treats construction more favorably compared to out-of-plan development.
In this way, we resolve regulatory ambiguity, strengthen the prospects of small settlements, with respect for the identity and historical heritage of each place, for a Greece that is spatially secure, developmentally strong and demographically optimistic.”
