The document passed with nine votes in favor from EH Bildu, while EAJ-PNV, with six votes, and PSE-EE, with one vote, positioned themselves against it. According to EH Bildu, this vote represents a change from 2022, when all municipal groups unanimously ratified the “Criteria and Objectives” document defining the growth model for the locality.
The first approval was given in December 2024, with the rejection of the jeltzales and the abstention of the socialists. Since then, the period for submitting allegations has remained open. After the resolution of 47 allegations analyzed from a legal and economic perspective, Zumaia's PGOU now enters its final phase.
“"It has accumulated six years of technical and legal work."
According to municipal data, 233 people participated in its drafting, including residents, technicians, and representatives of associations. Faced with the opposition groups' rejection, the municipal official recalled the agreement reached four years ago: “In criteria and objectives, it was decided by consensus of all what, where, and how to build. All issues were put on the table and the model was established there. Who and when decided that what was agreed upon is no longer valid?”
The EAJ-PNV municipal group justified its negative vote by requesting an increase in the number of homes. The jeltzales propose 1,300 homes and an extension of the time horizon to fifteen years. However, a councilor for Urban Planning reported during the session on the limitations imposed by current legislation. As detailed, the drafting team Erdu establishes a maximum of 1,180 homes for the municipality, also recommending maintaining a reserve above that limit for technical safety.
The councilor noted that the EAJ proposal would require modifying the already agreed-upon bases and would force “restarting the entire administrative process from its initial phase. This would mean discarding the six years of reports and studies carried out to date.” The provisionally approved plan contemplates a total of 863 homes, of which 680 are new creations and 60% are under public protection.
“"How will they defend a proposal that is not within legality? How would you explain to the public the postponement of the plan and the resumption of the process?"
For its part, the PSE-EE linked its negative vote to the rejection of its allegation regarding the Guascor plot, in the Santiago area. A socialist councilor proposed converting this land into residential to expand the housing supply. The municipal official explained that technical regulations “advise against the creation of new isolated residential nuclei that break the continuity of the coastal municipality.” According to the technical response, the objective of the PGOU is “to prioritize the occupation of areas close to the current urban center to avoid the fragmentation of the municipality.”
The municipal government stressed that the solidity of the document lies in compliance with deadlines and technical rigor, recalling that, although the plan is drafted with an eight-year forecast, legislation allows for extensions that can extend its validity up to two decades.
