Urban planning and land-use rules (aménagement du territoire, PAP/PAG)
Urban planning and land-use rules (aménagement du territoire, PAP/PAG)
This domain tests the hierarchy from national strategy to the building plot: the 2018 territorial-development law, the 2004 communal planning law, the PAG and the PAP. Expect questions on which document authorises a given use and density.
Core rules
- The PDAT sets national orientations; sectoral master plans (PDS) translate them for housing, transport, green areas and economic activity. They bind communal planning where the law gives them binding effect.
- The PAG (plan d’aménagement général) is the commune’s zoning plan. It divides land into zones-urbanised, future urbanisation, green, special-and fixes general prescriptions such as use, density and building depth.
- The PAP (plan d’aménagement particulier) implements the PAG at plot level. A PAP nouveau quartier lays out new streets, plots and public spaces; a PAP quartier existant can fix detailed rules in built-up areas. A PAG designation alone does not create a right to build.
- Adoption requires the statutory procedure: drafting, public inquiry, communal council decision and the approvals required by law. Third-party rights and servitudes still apply.
Worked example
A client owns a field shown as zone d’urbanisation future in the PAG. A builder promises a permit because it is already urbanisable. The permit should be refused: future urbanisation is not building land until the PAG is revised and a PAP adopted and approved. The project timeline must include the planning procedure, not just the building-permit phase.
Traps
Confusing PAG and PAP; assuming a PAP can override the PAG; ignoring sectoral plans and protected zones; and treating a zone verte as automatically buildable for agricultural diversification.