Vila Verde PDM, Portugal: the plan in force, the second review and how to check the maps

Vila Verde's current PDM is the first review, approved by the municipal council on August 4, 2014, and by the Assembleia Municipal (the municipal assembly) on August 18, 2014, and published by Aviso n.º 12954/2014 in the Diário da República, 2nd series, on November 19, 2014. It took effect the next day and repealed the first PDM, ratified in 1995. It consists of the regulations, two land-use maps (functional land classification; safeguards and plan implementation) and two constraints maps (natural resources, heritage and infrastructure; burned areas and wildfire hazard).

The regulations have been amended several times. The municipality publishes an updated version on its website, which does not replace the Diário da República, and which lists the amendments in the table. The 2019 amendment, for example, changed twelve articles, including the uses allowed in agricultural conservation areas and the parking rules. Before relying on an article, confirm the current wording.

The second review began in 2019 (Aviso n.º 1815/2019). On November 20, 2025, the municipal council voted unanimously to open the draft to public consultation; the draft already includes the assessments and opinions of 23 bodies, among them CCDR Norte (the regional planning authority). Aviso n.º 30999/2025/2, published on December 19, 2025, set 50 working days; the consultation started on December 29 and the participation platform stayed open until March 11, 2026, with six information sessions across the parishes.

The law suspends prior information requests, prior notifications and permit applications in areas covered by new rules from the start of the public consultation, but only until the plan takes effect or for 180 days at most (article 145 of the RJIGT, the legal framework for land-use plans). Counted from December 29, those 180 days ended in late June 2026. As of this update, we have not found the approval of the second review published in the Diário da República, and the DGT (Direção-Geral do Território, the national land-planning agency) platform still shows the procedure at the consultation stage: the 2014 PDM still applies.

The draft drops developable land as a category and distinguishes only urban land and rustic land, as the law requires. According to the municipality, total buildable area comes to 4,322.20 hectares, of which 3,663.73 are urban land, and the changes that matter most to owners are those in the table.

The PDM in force can be viewed on the municipality's CityHub portal (cityhub.cm-vilaverde.pt), under «PDM e Plantas de Localização», reached from the menu of the municipal website. The «Regulamentos e Planos» page has the PDM regulations, the notice of the review's public consultation and the regulations of the two detailed plans for the town center. The DGT's SNIT geoportal lets you confirm the published version. The draft review documents were on a separate consultation platform: do not mix them up with the plan in force.

If you need a paper document or a statement from the municipality, the 2026 fee table sets €8.00 per A4 color map (cartography and PDM), €14.00 per A3 land-use or constraints map and €27.65 for a certidão de enquadramento no PDM (a certificate of how the plot is zoned). The certificate describes the plot's classification but does not replace a PIP: only a decision on a PIP binds the municipality on a specific project. To read your plot:

• Find the property on CityHub by address or on the aerial photo, and check the boundaries against the caderneta predial (the property's tax record) or a survey.
• Read the functional land-use map and note the category, for example residential area, rural settlement or agricultural production area.
• Read both constraints maps, including the one for burned areas and wildfire hazard, which in Vila Verde is a separate map.
• Open the regulations at the article for the category and at the common rules for rural land, in the updated version.
• Compare with the draft review to see whether the plot's category may change, and write down your questions for the municipality.

The 2014 PDM already divides the territory into rural and urban land, but within urban land it still separates developed land from developable land, with central, residential, business and special-use areas (article 17). The town center also has two detailed plans in force, one for the area around the Igreja Matriz (parish church) and one for Avenida do Professor Machado Vilela, whose rules apply within their boundaries.

Developable land is the most sensitive point of the review: according to the municipality, the draft reclassifies 1,525.64 hectares of developable areas as rustic land. If the plot you want to buy is developable land today, check which category it gets in the draft and read the guide how to check if land is buildable, which also explains how these rules may be suspended in plans that were not updated. While it is valid, a favorable PIP binds the municipality on the permit or prior notification for the same project, and the 2014 PDM treated valid favorable PIPs as pre-existing rights (article 105); check how the final version of the review treats such commitments.

Unlike many older PDMs, Vila Verde's already has two rural-land categories where housing is a normal use. Aglomerados rurais (rural settlements) are small consolidated hamlets with residential and rural support functions; áreas de edificação dispersa (dispersed-building areas) are small groups of buildings, under a regime of containment and infill (articles 60 to 63). The parameters, as amended in 2016, are the same in both categories, and new buildings must fit the volume and architectural language of their surroundings.

These are the categories where the review changes the map most: the draft expands rural settlements from 8.51 to 576.52 hectares and dispersed-building areas from 56.41 to 82.05 hectares. Until the review takes effect, a plot that only becomes a rural settlement in the draft remains subject to the rules of its current category.

On farm and forest land, building is only allowed if it meets wildfire rules, the RAN, REN and other constraints, and provides its own water, power and wastewater treatment (article 33). A new house is the exception: it must support farming or forestry, with no other house on the same holding and no alternative site, be single-family, have a footprint of up to 150 m² and two stories above ground; a basement needs the municipality's approval (article 34). Farm buildings may reach 750 m² and 7 m in height, unless a justified need allows more (article 35).

Agricultural production areas are part of the Reserva Agrícola Nacional (RAN, the national agricultural reserve) and follow its regime, so any non-farming use needs a binding prior opinion from the regional RAN body, now part of CCDR Norte, issued within 20 days. In forest areas, the regulations ban building in high and very high wildfire hazard zones (article 46(8)). The guide rustic land: can I build? explains the national rules for a farmer's house. The table sums up the categories.

The regulations protect pre-existing situations: buildings that needed no permit when they were built, permitted buildings and also rights arising from valid favorable PIPs and approved architectural designs (article 105(1)). If they do not comply with the plan, works may still be allowed if they do not make the non-compliance worse, and an extension of up to 60 m² of total floor area does not count as making it worse (paragraphs 3 and 4).

A change of use to a single-family house may also be allowed for pre-existing buildings on rural land. For a building that needed no permit, the proof is the land registry, which must show that it was lawfully built and predates the start of the public consultation on the 2014 review; in areas with easements or restrictions, the change depends on those regimes (paragraph 5). In forest production areas, extending an existing building cannot add more than 50% of the original footprint or exceed 150 m² for an owner's home (article 50(3)(c)). For houses without a permit, see legalizing an old house and annexes.

Besides the RAN and the REN (Reserva Ecológica Nacional, the national ecological reserve), Vila Verde's constraints map shows restrictions specific to the municipality. In flood-prone zones, for example, new buildings are only allowed on urban land, as infill or for public facilities, homes must sit above the highest known flood level and basements are banned (article 8). Check the map for whether any of these constraints reaches the plot:

• Public water domain and flood-prone zones, shown on the land-use and constraints maps.
• The protected Ruães reservoir, with a reserved zone and a protective land zone.
• The Sabariz to Cabanelas irrigation scheme, with its canal and irrigation perimeters.
• Natura 2000, in the Serras da Peneda e Gerês and Rio Lima sites.
• Forest stands hit by wildfires and high or very high wildfire hazard, on a constraints map of their own.
• Mineral resources, such as quarries and kaolin extraction areas, and high and very high voltage power lines.

In Vila Verde, all urban development and building applications are filed only through the municipality's Serviços Online (aircsol.cm-vilaverde.pt), after registering and signing the application with the Cartão de Cidadão (citizen card). The documents are those set by Portaria n.º 320/2026/1, explained in the guide to PIP documents. Under the 2026 fee table, reviewing a building-work PIP costs €0.30 per square meter, plus €27.65 if the request is made under RJUE article 14(2); ask the municipality which area the calculation is based on.

Since October 1, 2026, the municipality must decide within 15 days (simple PIP) or 30 days (extended PIP) after its initial check, and a favorable answer is valid for 2 years. A PIP is decided under the rules in force on the date of the decision: if the review takes effect first, the new plan applies. While it is valid, a favorable answer binds the municipality when it decides the permit or prior notification for the same project, and those applications are not suspended during the public consultation on a review (RJUE article 17(8)). Apto Group prepares and follows up the prior information request. A PIP pays off especially when:

• The plot is developable land today, which the draft may reclassify as rustic.
• You want to build in a rural settlement or a dispersed-building area and need to confirm the ratios for your plot.
• The plot is farm or forest land and you want a house, a farm building or tourist accommodation.
• The plot touches the RAN, the REN, a flood zone or a wildfire hazard zone.
• You want to change the use of, or extend, an old building on rural land.

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

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