Right of town planning in France

The right of town planning is a whole of rules and institutions established in France in order to obtain a fitting-out in conformity with the objectives of installation of the communities. (H. Jacquot, Right of town planning , Dalloz, 1989)

The right of town planning is a branch of the French public law and its rules are primarily gathered in the Code of town planning. Having for characteristic to organize the occupation of the grounds, it touches with several related rights, and in particular with:

right of construction
right of the public health
Right of the environment
Revenue duty

The right of town planning is very largely independent of the rules of the private law, such as the Civil law, which apply in particular with regard to the constraints and the relations of vicinity.

Official definition of town planning

The object of town planning is very vast, and would be practically unbounded, to believe of it the Code of town planning, in its L.110 article. Indeed, this text resembles more a declaration of rights, that with a legal provision positive:

the French territory is the common inheritance of the Nation. Each community is the manager and the guarantor within the framework of his competences. In order to arrange the framework of life, to ensure without discrimination the populations resident and future of the conditions of habitat, of employment, services and transport answering the diversity of its needs and its resources, to manage the sparing ground of way, to ensure the protection of the natural environments and the landscapes as well as safety and the public health and to promote balance between the populations residing in the urban areas and rural and to rationalize the request for displacements, the communities harmonize, in the reciprocal respect of their autonomy, their forecasts and their decisions of use of space.

The right thus plays a key role in this activity, in particular out of matter:
- of Planning of the forecasts;
- of operational town planning;
- and of authorizations of town planning.

History of the right of town planning in France

The reflections on town planning are extremely old. It is only with reading Aristote, Plato or Vitruve to be convinced some. But the right of town planning remained a long time limited to regulations of administrative police force imposed by the local authorities on the private properties. It fell under the contemporary prospect for planning and installation only after the first and the second world war, whereas the rebuilding of a devastated landscape and the urban explosion imposed a total réfexion.

The first applicable rules of town planning on the whole of the national territory are those relating to the Lotissement S, resulting from the laws of March 19th, 1919 and of July 12th, 1924, subjecting to administrative authorization the creation of grounds intended to be built, in order to guarantee to the purchasers batches which their grounds would be suitably developed (water aduction, realization of the sewerage systems, power supply, creation of paved or covered roadways).

In 1919 the plane of installation are also created, of embellishment and extension , ancestors of the documents of town planning, i.e. files concerning the total installation of the communes which were equipped with it.

By the act Loi of June 15th, 1943 says, the Régime of Vichy will generalize the Permis to build, which applied before only in certain cities under the Law of March 14th, 1919 (sectors concerned with projects of installation and embellishment). This regulation will be maintained after the Release.

Taking into account the destruction of the War, rural migration, reception of foreign or repatriated populations, the needs for construction are enormous after war. The N°58-1464 decree of December 31st, 1958 created ZUP, in order to allow the construction of the great units which were going to make it possible to leave the endemic crisis of housing that one knew then.

The Loi of land orientation of 1967 will contribute to separate the rules from the right of town planning, which are controlled by the permit building and the other authorizations of town planning, of the rules of construction, which must be respected by the manufacturers under penalty of penal sanctions, but are not include in the problems of the authorizations of town planning. In addition, this law modernizes the documents of city planning, which are then made up, on the level of an agglomeration, by the |information system strategic plans, and, on the level of the commune, by the Plane of occupation of the grounds.

The Law N°75-1328 of December 31st, 1975 will give to the communities tools of land intervention in their granting a Right of pre-emption, that of the Zones of land intervention (ZIF), ancestors of the urban Right of pre-emption.

The Ordinance of December 8th, 2005 and the decree on enforcement of a law of January 5th, 2007 deeply modify the field of application and, especially, the proceedings for grant of the authorizations of town planning (allowed to build, allowed to arrange, preliminary declaration, allowed to demolish), in a step presented like simplifying the former right. This reform will apply on October 1st, 2007.

See also: Master development plan and town planning, Information system strategic plan (town planning)

August 1st

To read:

David-Andre Camous, •“Of the evolution of urban creation or the feature on the surface”, Right and City, n°56, 2004, p 222-254
David-Andre Camous, •“Of the feature on the surface: an evolution of town planning”, Studies Land, n°104, July-August 2003, p 26-31

Right of current town planning

Constitutional law of town planning

August 1st

Right of the planning of the forecasts

The competence of harmonization of the forecasts of town planning belongs jointly to the common and EPCI (Public corporations of inter-commune co-operation), like in the State, ) under control of which these local authorities prepare and implement the documents of city planning, also called " documents of town planning ".

The whole of the documents of planning must comply with the definite general regulations with the article L. 121-1 of the Code of the town planning, which force to them to determine the conditions making it possible to ensure:

balance between the Urban renewal, a urban development controlled, the development of the rural areas, on the one hand, and the safeguarding of the spaces assigned to the forest agricultural activities and and the protection of natural spaces and Landscape S, on the other hand, by respecting the objectives of sustainable development;
the diversity of the urban functions and the Social diversity in the urban habitat and the rural settlement, by envisaging capacities of construction and rehabilitation sufficient for satisfaction, without discrimination, of the needs present and future as regards habitat, of economic activities, in particular commercial, of sports activities or cultural and general interest as well as public equipment, by taking account in particular of balance between employment and habitat as well as means of transport and management of water;
a sparing and balanced use natural spaces, urban, périurbains and rural, control of the needs for displacement and motor vehicle traffic, the safeguarding of the quality of the air, water, ground and basement, ecosystem S, green areas, mediums, sites and landscapes natural or urban, the reduction of the noise pollutions, safeguard of the remarkable urban units and Inheritance built, prevention of the natural risks foreseeable, risks technological, Pollution S and Harmful effect S of any nature .

Principal documents of town planning, or documents of city planning

For strategic and prospective planning

The diagrams of territorial coherence (SCOT), which replaced since law SRU the |information system strategic plans, are the principal tools for strategic or prospective planning, on the scale of the agglomeration, the basin of life.

They fix the general orientations of the organization of the space and the reorganization of urbanized spaces and determine great balances between urban spaces at it and to urbanize and natural spaces and agricultural or forest and define in particular the objectives relating to the social balance of the habitat and social housing construction, balance between the urbanization and the creation of service roads in the public transport, with the commercial and artisanal equipment, the preferential localizations of the trade, the protection of the landscapes, the development of the entries of city and with the prevention of the risks, spaces and sites natural, agricultural or urban to protect

Other regulations must nevertheless be recalled, which apply in particular geographical areas, such as the Loi mountain or the Loi littoral, as well as SDRIF, specific to the Île-de-France, which has value of territorial Directive of installation. These rules are essential on SCOT.

Contrary, certain sectoral documents of planning must be compatible with SCOT. Let us quote for example, for the problems of habitat and housing the local Programme of the habitat (PLH), or, for those related to transport and displacements, the Plan of urban displacements (PDU)

For the urban regulation

See also: Local plan of town planning, communal Chart, national Payment of town planning, Rule of limited constructibility

The principal documents of town planning are:

the local plans of town planning (RAINED), which replaced since the law n°2000-1208 of December 13rd, 2000 relating to Solidarity and the Renewal Urban (known as law SRU) the plane of occupation of the grounds (POS).
Le RAINED determines the general orientations of installation and town planning retained for the whole of the commune and fixes the general rules and the constraints of land use making it possible to achieve the goals mentioned with the article, which can in particular comprise prohibition to build, delimit the urban areas or to urbanize and the zones natural or agricultural and forest to protect and define, according to the local circumstances, the rules relating to the establishment of constructions .
D' other documents of town planning can exist to answer certain specific problems. Have can thus point out the Protection plan and of development (PSMV) of the safeguarded sectors or the Protection zone of the architectural, urban and landscape heritage (ZPPAUP), which protects both the inheritance, or the Schéma of development of the sea.

the communal charts.
the communal charts are mainly adapted to the villages and boroughs to low dynamism in term of construction or environmental stakes. They are satisfied to delimit the sectors where constructions are authorized and sectors where constructions are not allowed .

The approval of a RAINED POS or one or, to a lesser extent, of a communal Chart, allows the Mayor, acting in the name of the Commune, to deliver the authorizations of town planning on its territory.

In the absence of Local plan of town planning or document by holding place, the Allowed to build and other authorizations of occupation of the ground are delivered on the basis of the national Règlement of town planning, with application of the Règle of constructibility limited, which normally prohibits to build out of the currently urbanized zones, in order to limit the mitage of the rural areas.

Right of operational town planning

The public authorities were not limited as regards town planning to a passive framing of the interventions of the manufacturers and equipment suppliers. They also practiced operational town planning, i.e. the stimulation of the private interventions or the practice by themselves of the public interventions. Such operations of town planning aimed, either to create new urban fabric, or to renovate degraded urban fabric (Restoration, rehabilitation).
With this intention the private operators or public mainly used

either the legal framework of the Reachs development concerted (ZAC), held to respect the plans of agglomeration and to prolong their action of planning,
or that of the Lotissement S, held to respect the communal plans.

It should be observed that, within the framework even of these operations, the regulation of town planning always remained presents and is expressed by the plane installation of zone (PAZ), or payments of allotments. (cf City planning)

Right of the authorizations of town planning

Taxation of town planning

Taking into account the cost for the community of the operations of installation and construction (creation of roadway systems and networks allowing the development of the grounds, creation of equipment generated by the presence of new inhabitants or companies) as well as more been worth brought to the properties by the realization of these public investments, the authorizations of town planning are generally subjugated at a particular taxation, such as the local Tax of equipment (TLE) or the Participation for roadway system and networks (PVR).

These taxes, which are related to the operation of construction and which generally appears in the Permis to build, are independent of the local taxes, such as the Real estate tax

The land Action

Rights of pre-emption

Right of renunciation

N the other hand of constraints imposed on a real owner, this one can, in certain cases, to require community well the purchase of sound. It is about the Right of renunciation envisaged in particular within the framework of the regulation of ZAC, of the reserved sites, the Stay of preceedings…

Expropriation due to public utility

When the realization of a project of general interest requires the land acquisition which could not be acquired by amicable agreement or by way of pre-emption, the State can exproprier these grounds with the profit of the community, the developer or building the owner of this project.

criminal Law of town planning

The criminal law of town planning is illustrated by many dispute, which is judged in front of the legal jurisdictions. They are mainly constructions built without authorization or respecting their provisions.

Dispute of the documents and authorizations of town planning

The interested citizens can dispute the legality of the documents and the authorizations of town planning by the way known as of the Contentieux of the abuse of power.

They can also dispute the legality of an authorization of town planning by estimating that the document of town planning which justifies it is itself illegal: it is about the Plea of illegality.

This dispute results independent of those from the civil law, such as the lawsuits relating to the turbid constraints or the of vicinity.

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