Braga PDM: the plan in force in 2026 and how to check your plot

The Plano Diretor Municipal (PDM) is the plan that zones all the land in a municipality; the general PDM guide explains how it works. In Braga, the plan in force is the 3rd revision, approved by the Assembleia Municipal (the municipal assembly) at an extraordinary session on January 16, 2026, with 38 votes in favor, 32 abstentions and 3 against. It was published as Aviso n.º 8551/2026/2 in Diário da República no. 73, 2nd series, on April 15, 2026, and took effect the next working day, April 16. It replaced the 2nd revision, approved in 2015 (Aviso n.º 11741/2015).

The plan is made up of regulations, a planta de ordenamento (land-use map) at 1:10,000, split into seven maps, and a planta de condicionantes (constraints map), split into three (article 4 of the regulations). Each map has 6 sheets, 66 in total. The regulations call for the plan to be evaluated and revised after 10 years (article 102). The table sums up the revision process, which began in 2018.

The "rejected" revision reported in the news is the vote at the council executive's meeting of December 22, 2025, where the final proposal got 5 votes in favor and 6 against, from the council members of Movimento Amar e Servir Braga, Coligação Somos Braga and Iniciativa Liberal. At an extraordinary meeting on December 29, the same proposal was approved with those council members abstaining; according to the minutes, the text was "entirely identical" to the one voted on before. The rejection did not lead to a different plan: what is in force is that proposal, later approved by the Assembleia Municipal.

The "more than a hundred proposals" figures that circulated refer to residents' submissions during the public consultations, not to amendments to the plan. According to the council's consultation reports, the 1st consultation received 1,797 submissions, 11% of which got a favorable decision, and the 2nd received 486, 26 of them within scope: 4 were accepted and 1 partly accepted. An amendment proposal, whether from council members or residents, changes nothing until it is approved and published. A PDM amendment procedure starts with a council resolution published in the Diário da República, which opens a period for public input.

As of October 24, 2026, the council's list of public notices shows no start of an amendment or new revision of the PDM, and the minutes of the executive's meetings from May to October 2026 record no such resolution either. What is out for public consultation, from September 29 to October 28, 2026, is the boundary of execution units 12, 13 and 15 of the Plano de Urbanização das Sete Fontes (a local urban plan), which does not amend the PDM. Before you file an application, check the council's "Revisão do PDM" page and the Diário da República for any new procedure.

The council makes the PDM available in three ways: on the GeoPortal WebSIG (sigportal.cm-braga.pt/websigbraga), where you can find the property and see every map over it; as PDFs, with the regulations and each map, on the "Revisão do PDM" page; and as vector DWG files, for the land classification map and the general constraints map, on the urban planning overview page.

The geoportal is a viewing tool: if it differs from the plan published in the Diário da República, the published plan prevails. The user manual the council publishes predates the 2026 revision but describes the same tools. If you prefer the national SNIT geoportal run by the Direção-Geral do Território (the national land-planning agency), check the date of the version you are viewing. The steps on the Braga GeoPortal:

• Find the property with the street-name search on the Localização tab, or by zooming in on the aerial photo. The search is sensitive to accents and abbreviations: type "doutor" rather than "Dr.".
• Make sure you are viewing the PDM in force, published in April 2026, and not layers from earlier plans.
• Read map 1.1, Classificação e Qualificação do Solo, to see whether the property is on urban or rustic land and in which category.
• Turn the constraint maps on and off. Many restrictions overlap, and only by switching layers off can you see which one affects each part of the plot.
• Measure. The Medição tab gives coordinates, distances and areas, useful to check the road frontage or the distance to a watercourse.
• Get the extracts. The Emissão de Plantas command creates a PDF with the location map and extracts of the maps you choose: draw the area, print and download the file.
• Open the regulations at the article for the category and also read the common provisions and the safeguards that apply to the property.

Read every map, not just the land-use one. The council's filing rules require planning applications to include extracts of all land-use and constraint maps, even if none of them affects the plot, or the application is not accepted. The table shows what to look for in each.

Two rules in the regulations deserve attention. If the watercourse drawn on the map does not match what is on the ground, the easement applies to the actual watercourse, and PIP applications must assess the plot as it really is on site (article 8, no. 2). And the whole municipality is in a zone of high radon susceptibility, so the PDM recommends mitigation measures in new construction and extensions (article 14). For the agricultural and ecological reserves, see the guide on land in the RAN or REN.

On much of Braga's urban land, the rule is not a ratio but the surroundings. In central areas 1, 2 and 3 and in low-density urban areas, new buildings and extensions follow the dominant built form of the street front: facade height, building lines, setbacks and massing of the buildings on the street (articles 56 and 57). The ratios only apply when the street front has no such references, in new subdivisions and in UOPG. That is why two plots in the same category can get different answers.

Some rules apply across the municipality. A residential building on urban land is always allowed two stories, unless that conflicts with the RGEU (the general building code) or with heritage rules (article 54, no. 4). The main facade must be less than 30 m from the public road, and the regulations do not allow buildings in a backland position (article 27, no. 4). The plot must be served by a paved public road with utilities at least 5 m wide, 6 m for business uses and 3.5 m for infill between buildings for other uses (article 28). Balconies up to 15% of the allowed floor area and basement parking and storage do not count toward floor area (article 27, no. 1). The table shows the parameters that apply without built-form references; the guide how much can I build on my land explains the terms.

On rustic land, building is the exception (article 40, no. 2). In agricultural areas, the regulations allow livestock and forestry, farm support buildings, rural tourism and turismo de habitação (stays in historic manor houses), campsites and civil protection facilities, but new housing is not among the permitted uses (article 42). For a house that already exists, they allow alterations and extensions up to 300 m² of floor area, including outbuildings, with a 7.5 m facade and 2 stories, without adding dwellings (article 43). Production forest areas follow the agricultural rules; in protection forest areas, almost no operations are allowed (article 45).

The figures are low: farm support buildings have a ratio of 0.025, one story and a 4.5 m facade; other uses tied to the farm, the same ratio with a 200 m² cap; a rural hotel, a ratio of 0.25 up to 2,000 m², with 2 stories. Braga's rustic land has no rural settlement category: many village cores of rural origin are zoned as low-density urban areas (article 66). So a plot in a village may be on urban land, and only map 1.1 confirms it.

Asking for land to move from rustic to urban was the most common subject of submissions during the revision. Now that the plan is published, that change can only come from a new planning procedure decided by the municipality. See what is possible on rustic land and when rustic land can become urban.

The new PDM protects what already had a permit. Pre-existing situations include buildings with a valid license, comunicação prévia (prior notice filing) or use title, buildings that predate municipal permitting, and rights already granted, such as favorable PIPs, approved architectural designs and subdivision permits (article 31). A favorable PIP issued under the 2015 plan and still within its validity period therefore counts as a pre-existing right; check the PIP's validity before relying on it.

If a pre-existing building does not comply with the new plan, only extensions that improve health, safety or accessibility and changes of use that reduce the nonconformity are allowed (article 31, no. 2). For unpermitted work, article 33 allows buildings that do not conform to the PDM to be legalized only if, among other conditions, they appear on the municipality's 2012 orthophoto map, comply with any easements with a favorable opinion from the competent authority and have no negative impact. A building that postdates that orthophoto and does not conform to the plan cannot use this route. The procedure is in the guide on how building legalization works.

Reading the PDM gives you an interpretation; a decision on a pedido de informação prévia (PIP) gives you an answer that binds the council. Under the RJUE (Regime Jurídico da Urbanização e Edificação, Portugal's planning and building code) as revised by Decree-Law 108/2026, in force since October 1, 2026, a simple PIP confirms feasibility and constraints, and an extended PIP can also set massing, footprint and number of dwellings. The council has up to 20 days for its initial check and then decides within 15 days (simple) or 30 days (extended; 45 for subdivisions); without a decision in time, the PIP is tacitly approved, and a favorable answer is valid for 2 years. You do not need to own the property to apply. The PIP guide explains the rules.

The Braga council's filing rules (version 01.2026) ask for extracts of every PDM map with the property outlined in red and a georeferenced topographic survey in the ETRS89/PT-TM06 system, in DWFx and PDF/A. Those rules still cite Portaria 71-A/2024; since October 1, 2026, the required documents are those of Portaria 320/2026/1, detailed in the guide to documents for a PIP. The council's online channel is the Balcão Eletrónico, and the Gabinete de Edificações (building permits office) sees applicants by appointment. In Braga, a PIP is worth it when:

• The plot changed class or category with the 2026 revision, or the information you have from the council predates April 16, 2026.
• What you can build depends on the built form of the street front, in central areas 2 and 3 or low-density areas, and you need to know which height and building line the council will accept.
• The property is in a UOPG, in an area awaiting infrastructure or in the special protection zone of Bom Jesus do Monte.
• There is a watercourse, flood zone, archaeologically sensitive area or listed heritage on or next to the property.
• Access is by a lane less than 5 m wide, or the house would sit more than 30 m from the public road.
• You are buying and want the promissory contract to depend on the answer: see PIP before buying land. Apto Group prepares and follows up your PIP in Braga.

The official sources are in Portuguese. Check the version in force before preparing a notice, project or application.

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