Andorra Commission Proposes LOGT Reforms with Construction Quotas

A parliamentary commission in Andorra has issued a final report with 18 conclusions and 26 measures to guide reforms to the Llei d’Ordenació General del Territori i l’Urbanisme (LOGT), including temporary national construction quotas aimed at ensuring balanced, sustainable development.

Presented on Wednesday after 13 months, 26 meetings, and 12 public hearings, the document from the Consell General's special study commission—chaired by Jordi Casadevall and vice-president Gemma Riba—emerged from consensus among parliamentary groups, the seven communes, government representatives including ministers Farré, Casal, and Bonell, and stakeholders such as the Official Colleges of Geologists, Architects, Engineers, and Economists, the Association of Landowners, Farmers and Livestock Breeders, Real Estate Agents and Managers, Contractors, and the Andorran Family Business.

Casadevall described the process as a "personal adventure" that was "very interesting and productive," highlighting interpretive discrepancies and operational shortcomings after 25 years of LOGT implementation, alongside rapid urban expansion fuelled by real estate investment. The commission focused on maintaining quality public services while addressing constraints on water and soil, without setting overarching growth limits, which it left to political debate. Riba emphasised cross-party collaboration amid data limitations, including incomplete parish POUPs and inadequate cadastral systems; she noted that communes' partial responses reflected extraction challenges rather than reluctance.

Recent data illustrates the scale: 1.5 million square metres constructed in recent years, with half the permits in the central valley between Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany; 300,000 square metres awaiting construction; and 600,000 under way.

The conclusions outline key reforms, including:

- Temporary national construction quotas, modelled on La Massana's approach, as a non-planning tool to promote equilibrium based on territorial capacity and socio-environmental demands. - Periodic national and parish load-capacity studies to inform a future National Strategic Territorial Planning Plan. - Limited rights of first refusal and retraction for government and communes on selected land or properties, subject to prior and subsequent judicial review to safeguard public interest. - Slope-adapted building designs to minimise earthmoving and spoil; stricter requirements for high-impact partial or special plans, including additional reports if they overburden resources or services. - National standards for special protection zones to preserve landscapes, heritage, and traditional mountain structures. - Declining buildability outside urban cores; integration of natural risks and mobility into POUPs; protections for agricultural land via urban exploitation guarantees. - Promotion of native materials to lessen visual impact; standardised POUP nomenclature; optimised data systems for urbanism and construction. - A public land registry for public housing at parish level with national coordination; a national sectoral plan for public housing; designation of public housing as projects of national interest; unified housing terminology. - Clarification of competencies between LOGT and the forthcoming Cultural Heritage Law regarding communal catalogues, including protection for surroundings of catalogued elements.

The report, published in the Consell General bulletin, awaits plenary approval on 19 March, after which a legislative commission—ideally formed before any dissolution—would revise the LOGT in collaboration with government and communes. Casadevall called for prompt action under the Consell's legislative powers.