The aforementioned amendment to the Spatial Planning Act made in 2023, in its current form, provides that, with the exceptions provided for in this amendment, from 1 July 2026, the adoption of a local zoning plan or its amendment will be possible if a general plan has entered into force in a given municipality. Similarly, obtaining a zoning decision based on an application submitted on or after 1 July 2026 will only be possible if a general plan has entered into force in the municipality concerned. A zoning decision based on such an application may be obtained if the area covered by this application is located within the development supplement area determined in the general plan.
However, it is already safe to say that in the vast majority of municipalities, general plans will not come into force by 30 June next year. Therefore, if corrective measures are not implemented quickly, we will face a real planning paralysis.
The impasse threatening us is to be prevented by the act amending the Spatial Planning Act and modifying the aforementioned amendment of 2023 to the Spatial Planning Act ("Amending Act"), adopted by the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (in Polish: Sejm) on 5 November 2025. Last week, the Amending Act was submitted to the President of the Republic of Poland for signature.
The Amending Act provides for a significant simplification of the procedure for adopting a general plan. The number of entities to which it will be necessary to apply for agreeing of the draft general plan will be significantly reduced.
Among other things, the obligation to agree on the draft general plan with the competent voivodeship conservator of monuments, the competent military, border protection and state security authorities and the competent road administrators will disappear. Agreements with the authorities referred to in the previous sentence will be replaced by these authorities issuing opinions on the draft general plan.
However, it will still be necessary to agree on the draft general plan with:
- the director of the national park, in the scope of arrangements that may affect the protection of nature in the national park, in the part concerning the national park and its buffer zone,
- the regional director of environmental protection with regard to provisions that may:
- have a negative impact on the conservation objectives of the nature reserve in the part concerning the nature reserve and its buffer zone,
- have a negative impact on the nature conservation of the landscape park in the part concerning the landscape park and its buffer zone,
- have a negative impact on the conservation of the protected landscape area in the part concerning the protected landscape area,
- have a significant negative impact on the Natura 2000 site, in the part concerning the existing or planned Natura 2000 site,
- the director of the regional water management authority of the State Water Management Authority Polish Waters (in Polish: Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie), in the scope concerning the development and management of land located in areas exposed at particular risk of flooding.
In light of the provisions of the Amending Act, a request by a municipality head, mayor or city president before the date of entry into force of the Amending Act for approval of a draft general plan to authorities with which, under the Amending Act, agreeing of a draft general plan is not necessary, shall be treated as a request for an opinion on the draft general plan.
In addition, the Amending Act provides that the approval or refusal to approve a draft general plan made before the date of entry into force of the Amending Act by authorities with which, under the Amending Act, it is not necessary to agree on the draft general plan, shall be treated as a positive or negative opinion on the draft general plan, respectively.
Furthermore, pursuant to the provisions of the Amending Act, proceedings conducted by public administration authorities and administrative courts in connection with the refusal to agree on a draft general plan by authorities with which, under the Amending Act, agreement on a draft general plan is not necessary, shall be discontinued.
All of the above solutions are intended to significantly shorten the path leading to the adoption of the general plan.
The Amending Act also expands the catalogue of zoning decisions that are to be indefinite. According to the current wording of the amendment to the Spatial Planning Act adopted in 2023, from 1 January 2026, a zoning decision would be temporary and would expire 5 years after the date on which it became final (in Polish: prawomocna). However, zoning decision that became final before 1 January 2026 would remain indefinite.
The Amending Act extends the existing catalogue of indefinite zoning decisions to include decisions issued within proceedings initiated before 16 October 2025. The Amending Act also provides that from the date of its entry into force until 31 December 2026 the deadlines provided for in the Spatial Planning Act for issuing zoning decisions (after the ineffective expiry of which a higher authority imposes on the authority examining the application for a zoning decision a financial penalty of PLN 500 for each day of delay) shall not commence, and those already commenced shall be interrupted. The aforementioned deadlines will start running again since 1 January 2027.
The Amending Act also dispels existing interpretative doubts regarding the assessment of the possibility of declaring a municipal council resolution on a general plan invalid, not only in its entirety, but also in part, with regard to the first general plan in a given municipality. The Amending Act clearly determines the admissibility of declaring a municipal council resolution on a general plan invalid in part, also with regard to the first general plan in a given municipality. Of course, declaring a general plan invalid in part will not deprive it of its binding force with regard to the remaining part not covered by the declaration of invalidity.
Considering the experience of local governments to date, it is difficult not to get the impression that the Amending Act is a legislative life belt thrown at the last minute to municipalities and investors.
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