The Draft Law on Amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding spatial planning of territories (lands) (registration No. 13437) has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
On 17 June 2020, the Law of Ukraine on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding land use planning was adopted, which obligated local authorities to develop and approve comprehensive spatial development plans of the territorial community by 1 January 2025. However, considering all the challenges Ukraine has faced since 2020, only two communities have approved comprehensive spatial development plans.
The explanatory note refers to four communities: as of today (30 June 2025), comprehensive plans have been approved for only four territorial communities, 492 communities have already initiated the development process, and 32 are actively working on the document. In addition, rural, settlement, and city councils have not completed the entry of the above-mentioned data into the State Land Cadastre.
One of the communities for which data on functional zones has been entered into the State Land Cadastre on the basis of a comprehensive spatial development plan was identified in open sources — the Rohanska territorial community of Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast.
On 19 June 2025, congressional hearings on spatial planning in territorial communities were held at the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine. Following the hearings, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on state building, local governance, regional development and urban planning was recommended to develop and support the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the Draft Law of Ukraine aimed at postponing the requirement for territorial communities to develop and approve comprehensive spatial development plans of the territorial community until 1 January 2028 for communities located in inland regions, and to set a deadline of three years after the end of martial law for communities located in regions where hostilities are taking place.
The draft proposes to amend the Land Code of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On the Regulation of Urban Development Activities”, “On the State Land Cadastre”, and “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding land use planning” to:
1. establish an additional transitional period (until 1 January 2028, or for the territories of territorial communities or their parts that, as of the effective date of the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding spatial planning of territories (lands)”, are included in the list of territories where hostilities are taking place or temporarily occupied by the russian federation, approved by the central executive authority responsible for the formation and implementation of state policy on temporarily occupied territories — until the expiration of three years from the date of termination or cancellation of martial law in the relevant territory), during which:
• the establishment or change of the functional designation of territories may be carried out on the basis of detailed territory plans on lands where comprehensive spatial development plans have not yet been approved;
• amendments to local-level urban planning documentation approved before 24 July 2021 may be made without taking into account the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Land Use Planning” as to its structure and content;
• approval of local-level urban planning documentation, the development of which began before 24 July 2021, may be carried out without taking into account the requirements of the above-mentioned Law as to the structure and content of local-level urban planning documentation;
• detailed territory plans for areas located outside settlements and for which no comprehensive spatial development plans have been approved may be developed and approved in accordance with the district and/or oblast planning schemes;
• rural, settlement, and city councils shall ensure the entry into the State Land Cadastre of data on: functional zoning of territories defined in local-level urban planning documentation; boundaries of heritage sites, historical and cultural reserves, historical areas of settlements, and protection zones of cultural heritage monuments indicated in the historical and architectural master plan; restrictions on land use in the construction sector;
2. define that the contracting authority for the planning schemes of specific parts of the territory of Ukraine shall be the central executive authority responsible for the formation of state policy in the fields of construction, building regulation, urban planning, spatial planning of territories and architecture. These schemes are to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the relevant oblast councils, the Kyiv and Sevastopol city councils, and adopted by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine;
3. ⭕️ establish the possibility of approving master plans of settlements located in territorial communities where comprehensive spatial development plans have not yet been approved;
4. establish that the availability of approved comprehensive spatial development plans of territorial communities and recovery programs for the territory of a territorial community (or its part) shall constitute an advantage when considering issues related to the financing of the recovery of such territory and/or infrastructure development in such territory from the state budget and/or international technical assistance or repayable/non-repayable financial aid from international organizations (except for the territories of territorial communities that, as of the date of the funding decision, are included in the list of territories where hostilities are taking place or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, approved by the central executive authority responsible for the formation and implementation of state policy on temporarily occupied territories).
You can discuss the mentioned draft law in the group Urban Planning in Ukraine.
Yuriy Brykaylo, attorney
Ⓒ 2025