Existing regulations and scope of the proposed changes

The 2023 reform of planning and zoning regulations introduced a new planning tool in the form of integrated investment plans (ZPI), which are a special form of local zoning plans adopted by the municipal council at the request of an investor. We have discussed in more detail this relatively new instrument in spatial planning (including benefits of its use, as well as the possibility of using ZPI in particular for the implementation of onshore wind energy projects and controversies in this respect) here: Dentons - Integrated investment plans (ZPI) – a new planning tool that should accelerate further development of wind farms in Poland.

As a result of recent work of the Deregulation and Economic Dialogue Team on another package of deregulatory legislation, on 13 June 2025, the information on the draft amendment the Act on Planning and Spatial Development (UDER61) was published on the Council of Ministers' Legislative and Programme Work List, which this time aims to significantly shorten and simplify the procedure for adopting integrated investment plans.

As part of the planned amendment, the Ministry of Development and Technology, which is responsible for the works on the said draft, is proposing two key changes concerning ZPI.

Lack of municipal council’s pre-approval to proceed with adoption of ZPI and procedure shortening

The first of them removes the obligation to obtain the municipal council's consent to proceed with the adoption of ZPI. Until now, the municipal council's consent was granted at the preliminary stage, in the form of a resolution approving the commencement of works on the integrated investment plan (so in principle such resolution triggered the procedure of ZPI adoption). At the same time, the municipal council was not bound by the investor's application in this respect, and thus it could either give such consent or reject the investor's application, which would mean lack of approval for further works on such draft. Moreover, as per existing regulations, the municipal council, in terms of adopting a resolution on granting consent for ZPI, was neither bound by any deadline for considering the investor's application, nor by the statutorily imposed criteria for its assessment. Consequently, this authority was deciding on further path of ZPI draft at the very beginning of its adoption process. Furthermore, it could even take the municipality up to several months to pass such resolution on granting the consent.

The draft amendment, by eliminating the obligation to obtain the consent of the municipal council (while retaining its full planning authority at a later stage of the procedure), should significantly streamline and deformalise the initial phase of adopting ZPI. Moreover, according to the estimates of the Ministry of Development and Technology, the procedure for drafting given ZPI will also be significantly shortened by 30 - 45 days, depending on the practice in individual municipalities. Given that ZPI adoption process in Poland takes a minimum of 10-12 months, this may mean an acceleration of the entire process by approximately 10%, which, given the time-consuming planning procedures, is of great importance from the perspective of the investment process.

At the same time, it is worth noting that currently the municipal council's consent is not required when the integrated investment plan concerns the location of renewable energy sources other than wind power plants. This means that while the municipal council's consent was not required, e.g. for solar energy projects, it was needed for onshore wind energy projects. The planned change should therefore have a positive impact on investments in this sector.

Clear guidance from the municipal council on obligations under the urban planning agreement

The second key change to be introduced under the amendment is the possibility for the municipal council to adopt guidelines (again in the form of a resolution) with regard to urban planning agreements concluded as part of the procedure of integrated investment plans enacting. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to enable the municipality to introduce clear regulations, predictable in advance for both parties, regarding the scope of obligations of the municipality and the investor in such an urban planning agreement. As a consequence, the adoption of clear rules for the investor's participation in the implementation and financing of the investments specified in the urban planning agreement would be known to the investor at the very beginning of the negotiation of the content of a given agreement, with the aim of avoiding a situation in which the municipality surprises the investor with its expectations at an advanced stage of the enactment of a given ZPI.

This change is undoubtedly positive, as it will make ZPI adoption process much more transparent. At the same time, if such previously adopted guidelines prove to be difficult to meet by specific investors, the opportunity to familiarise themselves with this document before the entire procedure is initiated, will certainly save them a lot of time and efforts.

Other changes facilitating use of ZPI which result from draft amendment to the so-called Distance Act

Although the deregulatory draft amendment concerning ZPI has not been published yet and therefore not all the details of its content are known, it appears that the scope of the changes it introduces as to ZPI will essentially be limited to the aforementioned two elements.

However, it is worth noting that there is also other draft legislation currently proceeded by the Polish parliament, i.e. amendment to the so-called Distance Act, a part of which covers changes to ZPI regulations aimed at improving the use of this planning instrument. Such changes, among other things, were supposed to extend the catalogue of supplementary investments to be implemented by the investor for the benefit of the municipality (which was to encourage the municipalities to make wider use of this tool), and to unify the procedure for adopting ZPI for onshore wind farms in the context of the current inconsistencies in this respect with the existing provisions of the Distance Act (which we also wrote about in more detail here: Dentons - Onshore wind adoption of amendments to the Distance Act).

Unfortunately, due to the political controversies concerning the abolishment of the so-called 10H rule and introduction of the minimum distance of 500 meters between wind turbine locations and residential buildings, the amendment to the Distance Act most likely will not enter into force within its current form. Thus, one could consider moving some of the above mentioned elements included in the planned amendment to the Distance Act to the discussed deregulation draft concerning ZPI adoption. This is because, on the one hand, they do not raise major controversies, on the other, they would certainly streamline the process of enacting integrated investment plans to a much greater extent, as well as eliminate inconsistencies in the current legislation in this regard.