The case with the construction of the hotel in Sarakiniko, Milos, the abuses in the earthquake-stricken Santorini and the illegalities that continue on the island of Mykonos brought to the surface the many years of inaction of the state, which allowed chronic urban planning diseases to develop, which “give birth” to urban planning abuses.
80% of the territory has no urban plan
The biggest of these is the delay in the completion of urban planning in 80% of the Greek territory. The enactment of town planning plans or their revision where they are now considered obsolete began in 2018, was canceled the following year, restarted in 2020 and within 2024 the studies were commissioned by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) which “runs” the tenders for both Local and Special Town Planning Plans (TPS – EPS). As the project is financed by the Recovery Fund, the delivery of the studies should be done at the end of the year, however, competent sources estimate that Greece will manage to get a six-month extension until the middle of 2026. However, given that their sanction will be through Presidential Decrees (PD), the 227 TPS and 18 EPS will all have to pass through the control of the Council of State (StE) with what this means in procedures and times.
Among the first, for which the first phase was completed, and presented at the end of 2024, are the PES for the two areas that are in the “red” of urban planning arbitrariness, namely Mykonos and Santorini, with the reactions of the local community on the two islands being diametrically opposed. In Mykonos, however, he rose up because of the restrictions proposed, while in Santorini he is pushing for even less construction, on an island where about 25% of it is arbitrary, according to the data presented by the researchers in the context of the EPS. As for Mykonos, the researchers calculated arbitrary construction at 44% in the municipality of Mykonos and 35.4% in the municipality of Ano Meras.
In fact, as the Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Thodoros Skylakakis pointed out in his statements yesterday, he sent a team to Santorini and “all irregularities were checked”. However, according to him, “in Greece, from the control and finding of arbitrariness to the demolition, there is a legal and judicial process that lasts a year”. As he characteristically said, in addition to checking all the arbitrary ones, “we also have to check the legal ones for arbitrary ones as there are a number of permits that were given legally, but we are not sure if they were given by the then urban planners within the boundaries of the settlement or beyond the boundaries of the settlement”.
In Mykonos, with “the arbitrariness of greed”, as the minister described them, their construction continues, even though there is a suspension of work. “I’m sending a message. Half of the ministry’s inspectors will be based in Mykonos from this week,” he noted.
Arbitrary construction has gone unchecked for decades
After all, one of the biggest “bets” that the Ministry of Environment and Energy has placed is the control of arbitrary construction. The timeless impunity of those involved in urban planning illegalities is being attempted to be “hit” with drones, artificial intelligence tools and the traditional method of comparing aerial photographs. The tender for the supply of satellite images of 2011, as the minister said, is being completed. At the same time, he is also “running” for the supply of the drones that will fly and “spy” on any change in the building. Thus, after the flight of the first drones, the comparison will be made with aerial photographs (for the arbitrary ones from 7/28/2011 to today) or then for the new arbitrary ones with the images that the drones will have recorded in their previous flight. “In one year we will have the drones and with artificial intelligence we will identify the arbitrary throughout Greece”, said the minister pointing out that the first application of the measure will take place in Mykonos.
At the same time, eight years after the introduction of the obligation to sample control in 30% of the building permits that have been issued, it has not yet started, as the standards according to which the checking engineers will “scan” the buildings have not been defined.
Delay of Special Environmental Studies
A major problem, which was highlighted by the case in Sarakiniko, is created by the delay in the completion of the Special Environmental Studies (SES) which have been in the “refrigerator” for years, with the consequence that our country will once again be referred to the European Court. In 2018, the tender was held, in 2019 the EPMs were assigned with a deadline of 2.5 years – that is, in 2022 we should have had the studies that would set land uses in the sensitive areas of the country, so that the relevant Presidential Decrees (PD) could then be signed.
In this way, everyone would know – the Ministry of the Interior, urban planning, forestry and other competent services, as well as investors – what is allowed and what is not allowed in each area. However, not a single Presidential Decree has yet been approved (out of a total of 23) but only three studies for Messinia – Laconia, Central Macedonia and Evros – Rhodope. Thus, the ministry is trying to speed up the procedures, with the aim of having all the EPMs posted by April, while, according to competent sources, unofficial communications were also made with the Council of State (StE) in order not to delay the control of the PDs. At the same time, the law on land uses must be revised.
In the meantime, until all of this is done, as the political leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Energy has announced, building permits in sensitive or burdened areas will be suspended or revoked, as the case may be. The matter has even reached Maximos, where, within the week, a special meeting has been scheduled. After all, the Prime Minister himself in 2021 from the floor of the conference of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had committed that “the declaration of the protection status for Natura protected areas will be completed by the end of 2022”.
Awaiting the arrangements for off-plan construction
At the same time, following the decisions of the Council of State (StE) that put a “freeze” on off-plan building, the country’s building services operate autonomously in terms of approving building permits as there are no common criteria to guide the officials. As the president of the TEE, Mr. Giorgos Stasinos, had mentioned, even “in the same Town Planning, someone can get a permit and another can’t”. Meanwhile the long-awaited transitional regulation that would set the limits on permits in off-plan areas is being delayed, prolonging the uncertainty over what applies in those areas.
Understaffed services
Another “thorn” that leads to urban planning anchorages concerns the operation of the Construction Services (YDOM), in which the problems are perennial and serious. From 2011 onwards, the dissolution of urban planning began with the responsibilities being transferred to the municipalities that failed to manage them. At the same time, in 2017 the engineers were given the possibility to issue building permits electronically, with the consequence that, to some extent, the control of the administration is bypassed. Now, the conversation is reopening for the return of urban planning under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.
Source: OT
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