Current regulations concerning general plans in Poland and status of their adoption

The reform of spatial planning adopted in 2023 introduced so-called “general plans” (Polish: plany ogólne), as a new comprehensive planning tool that were supposed to replace by the end of 2025 the existing studies of conditions and directions of spatial development (Polish: studia uwarunkowań i kierunków zagospodarowania przestrzennego). The municipalities that would not manage to adopt such general plans by the end of this year, could potentially face a material delays of zoning procedures (in particular this would apply to areas not covered by the local zoning plans), which posed a serious threat to further development of a number of planned investments, including in particular renewable energy projects, which constitute a key element of the Polish energy transition.

According to the Ministry of Development and Technology, as of January 2025, only about 75 percent of municipalities have initiated relevant procedures concerning adoption of general plans, which means potential difficulties in meeting the original deadline for many of them. The above was in particular caused by the fact that many municipalities struggled to balance the preparation of general plans along with ongoing works on issuing multiple zoning decisions (Polish: decyzje o warunkach zabudowy) in favour of the investors which applied for them in relation to the threat of losing the possibility of obtaining such decisions after 1 January 2026 due to the expiry of the studies of conditions and directions of spatial development and the failure to adopt the general plan by that date.

Considering insufficient progress of preparing general plans, representatives of local authorities, investors as well as industry experts and urban planners pointed out to the necessity of extension of the above-mentioned deadline for the adoption of general plans, which would allow municipalities to complete such procedures without suspending the process of adoption of local plans and the issuance of zoning decisions.

Anticipated extension of deadline for adoption of general plans

It seems that the government took these comments seriously, as it initiated process of extending deadline for adoption of general plans. As a result, the Ministry of Development and Technology has just incorporated a draft regulation amending the Act on Planning and Spatial Development into the list of legislative and programme works (under number UD198), proposing an extension of the deadline for municipalities to adopt general plans by additional six months, i.e. until 30 June 2026. The draft amendment is expected to be approved by the Council of Ministers in the first quarter of 2025.

Such extension seems to be directly linked to Poland’s obligations under the National Recovery Plan (Polish: Krajowy Plan Odbudowy) which supports spatial planning and land management reforms, under which the government has committed to reach the threshold of 80 percent of municipalities adopting such general plans by 30 June 2026.

Although the said draft has not been published yet, meaning that only its main assumptions are available, it is expected to be approved by the Council of Ministers in the first quarter of 2025.

How will this affect the Polish renewable energy market?

The proposed extension of the deadline for adoption of general plans means that the validity date of the existing studies of conditions and directions of spatial development for municipalities will be extended as well. Thus, the above-mentioned change may have potential impact on the RES market in Poland.

With respect to wind farm projects, if a given municipality failed to meet the deadline to adopt a general plan until 31 December 2025 for the areas not covered by relevant local zoning plan, after such date municipal authorities would be unable to proceed with adoption of new local zoning plans for such investments due to expiry of the studies of conditions and directions of spatial development. This could cause material delays in the investments process for such projects and it would certainly have further adverse effect on the wind energy sector, which is already suffering from a lack of new onshore projects in light of the delays in adoption by the Polish parliament of the expected amendments to the so-called ‘Distance Act’ which are aimed at mitigating restrictions to the location of wind farms. Such anticipated extension of the deadline for adoption of general plans until 30 June 2026 seems to significantly reduce this risk.

Such planned changes may also have positive impact on implementation of photovoltaic projects. Although majority of PV farms have been implemented to date under relevant zoning decisions, as a result of the reform of spatial planning of 2023, PV farms, as a rule, would have to be located exclusively on the basis of local zoning plans from 1 January 2026 at the latest, so on the same principles as wind projects. This means that after such date obtaining zoning decisions for projects of this kind, as a rule, would not be allowed. Although we don’t know the details of the new draft amendment, as it hasn’t been published yet, it looks that extension of validity of the studies of conditions and directions of spatial development until 30 June 2026 may change this situation in certain municipalities, because for such additional 6 months (or until adoption of the general plans) the investors should be still able to apply for zoning decisions for photovoltaic projects, which may result in the increased number of new projects available on the market until this date.

This reform should also reinstate the balance in particular municipalities between still ongoing process of enactment of general plans and granting zoning decisions to the investors. Such additional time for the local authorities will certainly unlock their planning capacity.