Sant Josep de sa Talaia has launched a new three-year urban planning strategy aimed at reviewing unresolved planning situations across the municipality and preparing the ground for the definitive approval of its new General Urban Development Plan, or PGOU.

Called “Sant Josep, Orden y Planificación”, the programme places the municipality’s outstanding urban and infrastructure issues under a more structured system of technical review and follow-up.

As part of the process, the town hall has audited more than 350 areas covering 10.4 million square metres of land, equivalent to approximately 1,041 hectares. From that review, 244 specific areas have been identified as requiring different forms of follow-up or management.

What the Audit Covers

The audit is intended to establish the precise planning and infrastructure situation in each of the areas reviewed.

The municipality has prepared an individual technical file for each of the 244 areas, including information on its exact boundaries, the progress of infrastructure works and the legal situation of compulsory land transfers.

The objective is to determine what remains to be done in each case rather than applying a single solution across the entire municipality.

One of the most important figures is the distribution of the audited land.

Some 52.5% of the surface corresponds to urban land included in areas requiring further action, representing 139 areas. A further 32.3% is classified as directly urban land, covering 89 areas, while 15.2% corresponds to developable land across 16 areas.

Six Groups for the 244 Areas

The municipality has divided the 244 areas into six management groups according to the type of problem or action required.

Group 0: Consolidated Areas

Twenty areas are considered consolidated and do not require further municipal action under the programme.

Group 1: Outstanding Documentation

Thirty-eight areas have outstanding documentary or administrative procedures that need to be completed.

Group 2: Streets and Basic Services

Seventy-three areas require work involving streets or basic infrastructure and services.

Group 3: Urban Transformation

Fifty-six areas require urban transformation processes and compulsory land transfers.

Group 4: Detailed Planning

Forty-eight areas still require detailed planning work before their situation can be resolved.

Group 5: Future PGOU

Nine areas are dependent on the final structure of the future PGOU and will therefore have to wait for decisions within the new general planning framework.

Together, the six groups account for all 244 areas identified in the audit.

A Three-Year Technical Programme

Sant Josep is establishing a dedicated technical unit to work on the programme from 2026 through 2029.

The municipality says the team will include new public employees, including a technical draughtsperson, a public-works technical engineer and an administrative position, working under the coordination of the town hall's career civil servants.

In total, the programme involves nine public employees.

The town hall will also allocate approximately €45,000 each year for external legal advice, environmental support and land valuation expertise.

A Four-Stage Approach

Before work begins in each area, the municipality plans to follow a four-stage process.

First comes the technical file and diagnosis.

This is followed by an on-site analysis to establish the real condition of the land and infrastructure.

A works project is then prepared where physical intervention is required.

The final stage is the valuation and calculation of the cost of carrying out the necessary works.

This approach is designed to give the municipality a clearer idea of both the planning requirements and the financial implications associated with each area.

Who Pays for the Works?

The municipality says the financing system will depend on the scale and nature of the intervention.

Smaller actions, including documentary procedures and minor connections, will be assumed directly by the town hall as part of its public-service responsibilities.

More complex infrastructure and urban transformation projects may be financed through a combination of municipal funds, resources linked to urban management and special contributions from property owners who directly benefit from the urbanisation works.

The system therefore does not mean that the town hall will necessarily pay the full cost of every intervention itself.

This Does Not Mean 10.4 Million Square Metres Is Being Released for Construction

The scale of the figure makes the distinction particularly important.

The 10.4 million square metres refers to the land examined during the municipal audit.

It does not mean that Sant Josep has newly classified 10.4 million square metres as developable land or that the entire area has been released for construction.

The audited land includes different planning classifications and a large proportion consists of urban areas already subject to specific management requirements. Only 16 of the 244 identified areas are classified within the audited breakdown as developable land.

The purpose of the programme is therefore to resolve planning and infrastructure problems area by area, not to open a new 10.4-million-square-metre construction zone.

The Timing Comes After the Collapse of the Provisional Planning Rules

The new strategy comes at a particularly complicated moment for Sant Josep's urban planning.

The municipality's provisional planning rules failed to receive final approval within the legal deadline and ceased to have effect in September.

As a result, the older Normas Subsidiarias dating from 1986 returned to force while the municipality continues working towards a new general planning framework.

The situation has created an interim period in which the town hall is attempting to manage existing urban planning issues using the rules currently in force while advancing its new PGOU.

The New PGOU Remains the Longer-Term Goal

Sant Josep has been working on a new PGOU intended to replace the municipality's older planning framework.

An earlier advance document approved by the town hall in February 2025 proposed potential growth of around 4,200 homes and 10,600 additional residents across the municipality.

That figure comes from the planning advance and represents a potential scenario within a planning document, not 4,200 homes that have been approved for immediate construction.

The current “Sant Josep, Orden y Planificación” programme is designed to improve the municipality's understanding and management of existing areas before the definitive general plan is approved.

Creating More Certainty for Residents

The town hall says one of the principal aims of the programme is to provide greater legal certainty to residents and property owners.

By establishing a technical file for each area, the municipality intends to make it clearer what infrastructure, planning procedures or land transfers are still required and what steps must be followed.

Mayor Vicent Roig described the strategy as a way of resolving outstanding urban planning issues before the definitive PGOU arrives, comparing the process to preparing the municipality before the new planning framework is put in place.

What Happens Next

The programme will now move into its implementation phase, with the new technical unit responsible for examining the identified areas individually.

The first work will focus on establishing the exact status of each site, identifying outstanding obligations and determining the appropriate route for resolving them.

Areas requiring streets and basic services will need different solutions from those awaiting detailed planning, while the nine areas dependent on the future PGOU will remain linked to the decisions that will ultimately shape the new general plan.

The municipality intends the three-year programme to run through 2029, providing a bridge between the current planning situation and the definitive PGOU.

A Major Urban Planning Exercise for Sant Josep

The 10.4-million-square-metre audit gives Sant Josep a detailed inventory of planning situations across the municipality.

Rather than representing a single new development project, it is a large administrative and technical exercise covering hundreds of separate areas with very different circumstances.

The immediate focus is on identifying what needs to be completed, who is responsible, how infrastructure can be financed and which areas require further planning decisions.

For Sant Josep, the broader objective is to arrive at the future PGOU with a clearer understanding of the municipality's existing urban landscape and with fewer unresolved planning issues standing in the way of its implementation.