In some areas, the municipalities are in trouble. In others, they are looking for ways to work together that walk a fine line within the law. Some municipalities are getting ready to hire private individuals, while others are just waiting for a miracle as their margins are very limited. For more than a decade, the state has been asking municipalities to have their own building service (urban planning), but not allowing hiring, with the result that very few have succeeded. In the summer, a legislative norm came out, ending more than a decade of “transitional” period, which caused a chain reaction.

But let’s start from the very beginning. In 2010, urban planning functions (issuing permits, checking and imposing fines for violations, etc.) were transferred to the municipalities. A year later, “Kallikratis” predicted that each municipality should establish its own city planning (later called the building service or YDOM). Those who could not continued to be served by the “big” city planning (old prefectural). But the economic crisis and the “freeze” of hiring followed. According to the Central Association of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE), from 2013 to 2021, only 12 municipalities have managed to establish their own urban planning. Thus, the deadlines set by the municipalities for the establishment of a construction service were constantly extended. Until this summer. Law 4954/2022 has been amended, according to which, as of January 1, 2023, the possibility of establishing new urban plans ceases. Those municipalities that are still served by neighbors will remain so (some strengthening of inter-municipal planning with personnel is envisaged). While specifically for the municipalities of Attica, North and South Aegean, the responsibility is transferred to the (also… tragically understaffed) Central Construction Service of the Ministry of the Environment.

Skopelos and Volos

This development has complicated the landscape. In Magnesia, for example, the municipality of Skopelos is in conflict with the municipality of Volos, from which it is served by urban planning. “We have a construction service with an engineer. By law, Volos is obligated to help us,” says the mayor of the island, Stamatis Perissis. “But in recent months he refused to serve us. As a result, no new permits are issued, and homes and businesses cannot be connected to electricity. Thus the whole island fell into inactivity.” “Our service consists of three employees and should serve Skopelos, Alonissos, all of Pelion and Velestino, almost all of Magnesia, except for Almiros and Skiathos. We have reached the point where Volos cannot serve Volos,” says Thanasis Stavridis, the city’s deputy mayor for urban planning. “The situation has worsened due to workload, now 40 apartment buildings are being built in the city. However, we assigned one employee to manage only two islands so that the old licenses could be validated. But a permanent solution must be found.”

Many municipalities are in conflict over “general” building services, either because they are not maintained or because of the burden they carry.

In Mykonos, the municipality does not have a building service, but does have a technical service, and is mainly served (as of 2018) by the town planning of Syros. The news of the imminent transfer of responsibility to Athens did not cause a positive response. “We would like to have our own service, but the law requires five engineering specialties. So without hiring, we cannot move forward,” Mayor Konstantinos Koukas says. “Syros is not complaining because today he is ‘earning’ 4% of the fee for issuing a new license, plus collecting fines for urban violations, at least a million a week.” In other words, with the income “brought in” by urban planning, the municipality could hire staff if it were allowed.

In the regional unit of Chania, the urban development of the municipality of Chania still serves six more municipalities (Apokoronou, Gavdos, Kantanou Selina, Kissamos, Platanias and Sfakion). However, due to a small number of staff and a heavy workload, seven municipalities have decided to sign an inter-municipal cooperation agreement with the Greek Cities for Development Network (DEPAN) with the aim of hiring engineers through it who will assist, with a fixed-term contract, the construction service of Chania. “We make patents to solve problems,” says Chania Mayor Panagiotis Simandarakis. “The construction department of Chania is the third in terms of issuing new building permits after the respective Athens and Thessaloniki. Since no one has been hired in urban planning since 2008, we are trying with partners to hire private engineers, as construction activity is gaining momentum, and we have reached a dead end. This is not the solution we would like, but we have a problem that needs to be addressed immediately. In addition, the final decision will always be with the construction service, private individuals will simply take over the exemption from paperwork.” The seven municipalities of Chania are not the only ones looking for a formula for hiring private individuals. The municipality of Marathon has taken similar action (and other municipalities are looking for a way). The Union of Certified Public Engineers (Panhellenic Federation of Unions of Graduate Civil Engineers, POEMDYDAS) filed a lawsuit to overturn the decision of the Municipality of Marathon. “The transfer of urban planning to the municipalities failed. The number of services has decreased, but the problems have increased,” says Dimitris Petropoulos, President of POEMDYDAS. “However, the replacement of services that form the basis of the state’s activities by private individuals is wrong and unconstitutional. There is even a corresponding decision of the Accounts Chamber of the municipality of Hersonissos, which tried to do something similar for its financial service.” For POEMDYDAS, the right staffing of services is the solution. “The Ministry of the Interior has announced that it will send 650 engineers to municipalities and regions through ASEP. But I’m afraid that few will get into urban planning. Mayors will prefer to staff their technical services, because we are in the pre-election period and they want to present projects, sidewalks, squares, repairs. Then the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that it would hire 150 more engineers specifically for urban planning. Let’s see if he does, we’re well below the legal limit anyway.”

What needs to be done?

“For municipalities, their technical services are more important. Urban planning is a headache, a place for complaints,” says Paris Sarlautis, General Secretary of the Association of Civil Engineers of Greece (SPME). “What must be done?” There are two views. One says that the state should be in control and be held accountable, and the other says that the private engineer should be held responsible and controlled by sampling or after filing a complaint. I am inclined to the first, there should be control by the state body, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Natural Resources, so that we, private engineers, are also legally protected. In my opinion, there should be a mixed scheme, where part of the urban planning should remain in large municipalities or on the islands, and part should be serviced at the regional level with the appropriate staff.”

Understaffing, no profile specialties

Only half of the country’s municipalities currently have a building service. In fact, there are many large municipalities that have not begun to create urban planning, 16 of them have more than 40,000 inhabitants. Medium and small municipalities are completely dependent on the services of a larger municipality, which creates problems. Data taken from a survey conducted by the Hellenic Local Development and Government Association (EETAA) in 2021. As it turned out:

• More than ten years after Kallikratis, out of the country’s 332 municipalities, 168 (51%) have building services and 164 (49%) do not.
• In Attica, out of 66 municipalities, 34 do not have urban planning. The largest urban areas still belong to the Municipality of Athens (it also serves the municipalities of Byron, Daphni Imitto, Kaisariani, Zografou, Ilioupolis and Philadelphia-Chalcedon) and Piraeus (it also serves the municipalities of Korydallos, Perama, Agistrion, Aegina, Kitira, Spetses, Hydra ) and partly Poros). Many municipalities are also served by the municipalities of Agia Paraskevi (Vrilission, Papago Cholargo, Penteli, Filotei-Psyhiko and Chalandrio), Nea Ionia (Galatsi, Heraklion, Likovrisi-Pefki and Metamorfosi) and Egaleo (Agia Varvara, Agioi Anargyro-Kamatero) . , Ilio and Petersburg).
• The situation on the islands is unfavorable. In the South Aegean region, 12 out of 34 municipalities have urban planning, in the North Aegean 7 out of 11, in the Ionian 5 out of 11. For example, the construction service of Thira also serves Anafi, Io, Sikino and Folegandros, Rhodes. services to Kastelorizo, Tilos, Chalki and Symi, Syros Kea, Kythnos and Mykonos. None of the 35 small island municipalities (up to 3,500 inhabitants) has urban planning.
• Lack of building services is not only a “problem” for small, already understaffed municipalities. For example, 23 out of 47 municipalities in metropolitan centers (half) do not have urban planning. Similarly, 33 municipalities with over 25,000 inhabitants do not have HYDMs, of which 16 have over 40,000 inhabitants.
• A total of 1033 engineers of all specialties, with higher and technical education, are employed in construction services throughout the country. Another 99 people of other specialties work there.
• Legislation requires the presence of five engineers of different specialties to confirm the conformity of the city plan. According to the EETAA study, 28 city planners hire only one engineer, 28 hire two engineers, 16 hire three engineers, and 22 do not hire a single engineer with a college degree. “The study data shows that there are severe understaffing issues, and a significant percentage of YMCAs lack some of the core engineering skills to operate them effectively,” EETAA concludes.

In Attica
32 municipalities have their own city planning and 34 are served by other municipalities. In the South Aegean the same ratio is 12 versus 22.

On islands
20 island municipalities with a population of more than 3,500 have urban planning (5 of them are not fully functioning, i.e. have delegated some of their responsibilities), and 7 are not.

35 small island municipalities (i.e. all island municipalities with a population of up to 3,500 inhabitants) do not have urban planning.

In the rest of the country
33 municipalities with a population of over 25,000 do not have their own urban planning. Of these, 16 have a population of over 40,000 inhabitants.