Penafiel PDM: the plan in force in 2026, the 2nd revision 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 Penafiel, the plan in force comes from the revision approved by the Assembleia Municipal (the municipal assembly) on February 9, 2007, after a public consultation from September 12 to November 13, 2006, and ratified by Council of Ministers Resolution 163/2007, published in Diário da República no. 197, 1st series, on October 12, 2007. It has applied since the day after publication (article 67 of the regulations) and repealed the first PDM, from 1994.

The plan is made up of the regulations, a planta de ordenamento (land-use map) at 1:10,000, in three sheets (A, B and C), and a planta de condicionantes (constraints map), also at 1:10,000, with annexed maps of burned areas, high and very high wildfire hazard and noise zoning (article 4). Since 2025, the land-use map has also included an annexed map of areas at significant potential flood risk. The full regulations, as worded in 2021, were republished as an annex to Aviso n.º 16534/2021; for later changes, also read the notices in the table.

The Câmara decided to revise the PDM on March 18, 2019, and Aviso n.º 6061/2019, published on April 3, 2019, opened the procedure with a 14-month deadline and an early participation period. The deadline was extended by the same period by Aviso n.º 7810/2020. On March 7, 2022, the Câmara decided to restart the revision, with a new 10-month deadline and 15 days of participation (Aviso n.º 5352-A/2022 of March 11, 2022), keeping the acts and opinions already obtained. The notice blames the delay on missing opinions from members of the advisory committee and on changed criteria for mapping the REN (Reserva Ecológica Nacional, the national ecological reserve).

Since then, we have found no further act of the revision in the Diário da República. The collaborative planning platform of the DGT (Direção-Geral do Território, the national land-use agency) still lists the procedure at the monitoring stage, with no public consultation recorded, and the Câmara's revision page, updated on October 7, 2026, lists public consultation only as «a disponibilizar oportunamente» (to be announced). The 2024 and 2026 interim measures lapse when the 2nd revision takes effect, a sign that the Câmara expects it, but as of November 1, 2026, there is no public draft and no date. Until then, the 2007 plan applies with its published amendments.

Once the draft goes to public consultation, PIP applications, prior notifications and permit applications in areas covered by new rules are suspended from the start of consultation until the plan takes effect, for up to 180 days (article 145 of the RJIGT, the Regime Jurídico dos Instrumentos de Gestão Territorial, Portugal's planning instruments law). The revision will also have to adopt the classification of the 2014 framework law, which only allows urban and rustic land, so the planned urbanization areas of the 2007 plan will have to be reclassified.

Since 2024, three partial suspensions of the PDM with interim measures have been published, each for a specific public project. On Rua das Piscinas Municipais, in Termas de São Vicente, about 7,786 m² were reserved in October 2024 for a family health unit, for 2 years with a possible one-year extension; we found no published extension, so check with the Câmara whether it still applies. In Eja, the government suspended rules of the PDM and of the Crestuma-Lever reservoir plan for two years in March 2026 for the Entre-os-Rios wastewater treatment plant. On Avenida Dr. António da Rocha Melo, in Penafiel, about 6,900 m² have been reserved since April 2026 for the new operations base of VALPI, linked to the Tâmega e Sousa public bus service. In these areas, as a rule, only works for the project and works already validly approved are allowed; if your property is near one of them, check the boundary map published with the instrument.

The simplified amendment published on September 2, 2026 (Aviso n.º 21740/2026/2), approved unanimously by the Assembleia Municipal on July 31, changed four rules on business areas. The maximum building height rose from 10 to 13 m in existing industrial and business areas and in industrial clusters, and to 16 m in proposed industrial and business areas; in specially justified cases, the Câmara may allow more (articles 22, 30 and 33). In UOPG (operational planning and management unit) 15, the Recezinhos business and industrial zone, the 20 m tree buffer next to residential areas can be replaced by other impact-mitigation measures (article 64). The rules for residential areas and rural land did not change.

The «Plano Diretor Municipal» page on the Câmara's website lists, with links to the published text, the 2007 revision and every amendment, correction and suspension up to the 2026 simplified amendment, and points to the municipal Geoportal (websig.cm-penafiel.pt) and to the geoportal of the SNIT, the DGT's national planning information system. The Câmara's Geoportal has two entry points, «Consulta de Planos» (plan viewer) and «Emissão de Plantas de Localização» (location plans), over aerial photos and 1:2,000 mapping. Two detailed plans are also being drafted, for UOPG 7 and for Rua do Porto, Rua Tenente Valadim and Rua da Saudade; they only count once published.

The geoportal is a viewing tool: if it differs from the plan published in the Diário da República, the published plan prevails. The steps to read your property:

• Find the property on the Geoportal with the «Pesquisa» (search) tool or by coordinates, and check the boundaries against the caderneta predial (the property tax record) or a survey.
• Read the land-use map and note the class (urban or rural land), the category and, in residential areas, the area type, for example C1 to C4.
• Check whether the property is in a UOPG, in a suspended area or in a flood risk area on the 2025 annexed map.
• Read the constraints map and the annexed maps of burned areas and wildfire hazard.
• Measure with the «Medições» tool the road frontage and the distances to watercourses or roads.
• Get the location plan under «Emissão de Plantas de Localização» and open the republished regulations at the article for your category, checking the later notices for any changes.

The 2007 PDM predates the 2014 framework law and still uses the old classification: urban land and rural land, which current law calls rustic land, and, within urban land, urbanized areas and planned urbanization areas (article 8). The table sums up the categories on the land-use map. The map also shows, though they are not categories, heritage protection areas, flood zones, the ecological structure on rural land and an area with potential for metal ores.

Planned urbanization areas are the old «urbanizável» (land earmarked for development): building follows the UOPG program, and the Câmara only allows one-off works in cases such as infill next to a public road with access or land adjoining urbanized areas (article 63(4)). For PDMs not adapted to the 2014 law, article 199 of the RJIGT provides for suspending the rules for these areas; we found no published declaration of that suspension for Penafiel, but check with the Câmara before counting on building rights for land in this category. The guide on how to check if land is buildable explains the rules.

In mainly residential areas, the rule is the surroundings: works follow the dominant building line, the most common height and the building type of the street front, and the figures in the table are maximums, not guaranteed rights (article 15). For infill, between buildings on the same street front up to 24 m apart, the works follow the building lines and massing of the neighboring buildings. In types C1 and C2, a plot larger than 1 ha, or one that needs new public streets, must be subdivided. Where an urban plan, detailed plan or valid subdivision permit exists, its rules apply. The guide on how much you can build on your land explains the ratios.

Some rules apply everywhere. Gross floor area excludes basement parking and storage, balconies, terraces and attics without habitable ceiling height (article 5). A new house needs 1 parking space up to 150 m² of floor area, 2 up to 300 m² and 3 above that (article 11), and each space not provided costs €480.40 in compensation under the 2026 fee schedule. On sloping land, side and rear facades may not exceed the category's height by more than two floors, up to 7 m (article 9(3)).

On rural land, a new house is the exception and depends on the category. In complementary agricultural areas there are no subdivisions, and a single-family house is allowed for the owner, the farm operator or permanent farm workers, on a property of at least 5,000 m², up to 200 m² of gross floor area including any existing building, with two floors and 7 m, served by a public road and with its own utilities (article 39(4)). For infill between legal houses on the same street front less than 50 m apart, there is no minimum plot size; for the permanent home of an owner who lives in the municipality and owns no other house or urban land there, the same conditions apply, including the 5,000 m² (article 39(5)). Tourism and facilities need 10,000 m² and impervious cover of up to 0.10 (article 39(6)).

Protected agricultural areas follow the RAN rules: if the RAN authority allows a house, the PDM also requires it to be the permanent home of someone who lives in the municipality and owns no other house or buildable land there, up to 200 m², with two floors and 7 m (article 37). In production forest, the regulations do not provide for new houses: they allow existing buildings to be extended by up to 25% of floor area, tourism and support buildings for forestry, with a 7 m height limit (article 43). In the ecological structure on rural land, housing is only allowed for farmers or in support of tourism (article 49). See the general rules in rustic land: can I build? and land in the RAN or REN.

A plot only changes class or category through a PDM revision, an urban or detailed plan, or a boundary adjustment of up to 3% of the area already in that category (article 66). For existing houses that do not comply with the plan, works that do not worsen the nonconformity are allowed, and an extension of up to 10% without a change of use does not count as worsening it (article 6). For works without a permit, see legalizing an old house and annexes.

Besides the RAN and the REN, the regulations list the easements and restrictions that apply in the municipality (article 7); where they apply, the category rules hold, subject to the easement's own regime. Check whether the property is affected by any of these:

• High and very high wildfire hazard: the regulations ban homes, shops, offices and industrial buildings there, and outside consolidated built-up areas new buildings must follow the forest fire rules, with a 50 m buffer to the boundary if there is no municipal plan (article 9(6)).
• Flood zones: new buildings are only allowed as infill or to replace existing ones, with floors above the highest known flood level (article 53); in areas at significant potential flood risk, the Douro plan's rules also apply, and the stricter rule prevails (article 52-B).
• Crestuma-Lever reservoir: a 500 m land protection zone from the full supply level, at 13 m elevation, and a 50 m reserved zone, under chapter V-A (article 52-A).
• Heritage: buildings on the heritage map have their statutory protection area or a 50 m buffer, and works there need prior advice from the municipal heritage committee (article 51).
• Roads and rail: a 30 m no-build strip on each side of the centerline of planned main municipal roads without an approved design, and prior advice from the rail network operator in the area reserved for doubling the Douro line between Caíde and Marco (article 54).
• Other easements: mineral resources, power lines, gas pipelines, survey markers and the Bonfim-Marão radio link, all on the list in article 7.

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); without a decision in time, the PIP is tacitly approved, and a favorable answer is valid for 2 years. The PIP guide explains the rules.

In Penafiel, planning applications can only be filed through the municipality's Serviços Online, with attachments handled by the No Paper app since January 2026; applications filed from October 1, 2026, follow the new law, and the required documents are those of Portaria 320/2026/1, detailed in the guide to documents for a PIP. Under the fee schedule published in August 2026 (Regulamento n.º 1106/2026), reviewing a PIP costs €97.84 for a single-family house, €146.62 for apartments, retail or offices and €228.34 for a subdivision of up to 10 lots; a simple information request costs €26.08, a certified location plan issued at the counter €6.01 and each A4 sheet of the PDM maps €6.01. The schedule has no certificate of PDM compliance, and only a PIP binds the council. A PIP is worth it when:

• The plot is in a planned urbanization area or a UOPG and you need to know whether the council will allow a one-off building.
• What you can build depends on the building line and most common height of the street front, and you need to know which height the council will accept.
• You want to build a house on complementary or protected agricultural land and must prove residence, minimum plot size or RAN approval.
• The property touches a flood zone, the Crestuma-Lever reservoir, a wildfire hazard area or one of the suspended areas.
• 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 Penafiel.

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

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