The law that automatically reclassifies rural land for the construction of thousands of apartments comes into force.
Environmentalists and the left-wing opposition criticize the land acquisition rule as one of the main territorial attacks on democracy.
PalmLaw 4/2025 on urgent actions aimed at obtaining land through strategic residential projects in the Balearic Islands came into force this Thursday. The regulation, which allows for the automatic rezoning of hundreds of hectares of rural land for housing and which increases pressure on developable land, was published in the BOIB (Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands) early this morning.
Specialists are surprised that the publication and entry into force are on the same day, as at least 24 hours normally pass between inclusion in the BOIB (Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands) and the start of its validity. In any case, the wording of the regulation literally reflects the agreements reached by the PP and Vox, which open the door to the construction of buildings on rural land. In the case of towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants, they will not have to wait until the urban and developable land is exhausted, as stipulated by the regulations in force until now. In this way, Palma, Calvià, Manacor, Marratxí, Llucmajor, Inca, Alcudia, Ibiza, Santa Eulalia del Río, San José de Sa Atalaya, Ciutadella, and Mahón will be able to decide whether they want to apply this model and fill the Transition Areas—rural land surrounding the main towns.
The regulation has sparked much outrage among the political opposition, environmental groups, and residents of various rural areas, mainly in Palma, who have raised their voices to demand a reconsideration of a measure that they consider macro-urbanizing and that, according to specialists such as the GOB spokesperson in the Technical Report on Urban Planning and Promotion, promotes speculation and has a negative environmental impact on a punished territory.
For this regulation to be implemented in Palma, it will be necessary for Vox to vote in favor, since the law provides for a municipal filter for its application. But just a few weeks ago, the spokesperson for the far-right party in Palma, Fulgencio Coll said that the logical thing was to first exhaust the developable land. and urban land before consuming rural areas that have significant territorial and heritage value. The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, will not be able to implement this law without Vox.
According to critics and calculations by ARA Baleares, the law will generate more of one million residential places, considering that, in addition to being able to directly develop rural land, the development land in municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants can be increased by 45%.
Strategic residential projects
To carry out rezoning actions, the law incorporates the concept of strategic residential projects, an administrative tool to expedite approvals by integrating planning, rezoning, and urbanization into a single process. According to the Government, this is vital to "alleviate the housing problem," as argued by the Regional Minister of Housing, Territory, and Mobility, José Luis Mateo.
These projects may not be carried out on all rural land, but only on land in contact with urban and developable land. Furthermore, all apartments built in transitional areas must be protected (public housing) or limited-price housing. This percentage may be reduced to 75%.% If an economic inviability recognized by the City Council is justified.
In projects developed on urban or developable land in municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, at least 50% of the residential buildable area must be reserved for housing with some form of public protection or limited price. The remaining buildable area may be used for free housing, where developers hope to make one. big business.
For the GOB, this represents a "definitive destruction of rural land." The entity attacks the law because it facilitates a land liberalization that "endangers the territory, natural resources, and climate resilience," as well as total deregulation of urban planning. The left has already announced that it will take the law to the Constitutional Court.
