The situation
A planned use of a plot of land
A developer holds options on two plots: one near Žilina for a 30,000 m² warehouse, one near Łódź for a similar scheme. The investment committee wants a realistic timeline before the options are exercised in December, and the first question is which permits each country requires, in what order.
The permits are easy to name. The hours go on the sequence: what must exist before the building permit can be applied for, when an environmental assessment is needed, and what changed when both countries reformed their planning and building laws. Get the order wrong and the timeline is fiction.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The planning framework comes first
- In both countries a building permit presupposes that the use fits the local planning framework. In Poland that means the local spatial development plan or, where there is none, a decision on development conditions.
- Environmental assessment can come before everything
- Projects covered by the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive need screening or a full assessment, and large logistics schemes may fall within the national lists. In Poland the environmental decision is obtained before the later planning and permit decisions.
- Both countries have reformed their rules
- Slovakia has replaced its long-standing building act with new legislation, and Poland has reformed its planning system around new municipal general plans. Which regime applies can depend on the filing date, so the note should state the date it assumes.
- Permit or notification
- Polish building law distinguishes works that need a building permit from works that only need a notification. Agricultural land in both countries may also need release from agricultural use before it can be built on.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
We plan a 30,000 m² logistics warehouse on agricultural land near Žilina and a similar one near Łódź where there is no local plan. List the statutory permitting steps in each country in order, including any environmental assessment, and which authority decides each.
You start with
A planned use of a plot of land
- 01
Describe the plot and the scheme
Give the location, current zoning, size and use. azta searches the Slovak and Polish building, planning and environmental acts and the EU directive.
Cited research· Free - 02
Compare the old and new rules
Open the building acts in the reader and compare versions to see which procedure applies on your filing date.
Atlas statute reader - 03
Draft the permitting note
Ask for a note per plot listing each step, the deciding authority and what it depends on. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export for the committee
Export the note to Word for the investment committee pack.
Word export· Pro You send
A note of the statutory permitting steps in order, with the authority for each
What you get
A note of the statutory permitting steps in order, with the authority for each
Permitting note · draft
Žilina and Łódź: permitting steps in order
Łódź. There is no local plan for the plot. Given the size of the scheme, we expect an environmental decision to be needed first, followed by a decision on development conditions and then the building permit. The use of the agricultural land must also be cleared. On completion, the occupancy procedure follows.
Žilina. The plot is zoned for agriculture in the municipal land-use plan. A change of the plan, or confirmation that the use is compatible, comes first, together with the release of the land from agricultural use. We have assumed the application will be made under the new building legislation and set out its procedure in Annex 2.
Timeline. Annex 3 gives the statutory decision periods for each step. Actual durations are usually longer, and the committee should treat these periods as minimums.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
17 minutes a month
At €100 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 43
- Capacity at your rate
- €4,320
- More permitting notes a quarter
- 1.5
- Return on Pro
- 13.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The site facts: access, utilities, protected areas and neighbours.
- Engaging local architects and permit specialists.
- The investment decision and the timeline you commit to.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta hold local planning documents?
- No. It holds national legislation and court decisions, not municipal plans. Check the plan for the plot with the municipality, then ask azta what the law says follows from it.
- Can it tell me which building act applies?
- Ask with the filing date. azta cites the transitional provisions, and you can compare the versions in the statute reader.
- Can it read an existing permit or decision?
- Yes, on Pro. Upload it and azta refers back to the conditions it relied on.
