THE PLAN FOR INVESTMENTS IN SCHOOLS IS BEING EXTENDED - WHAT THE CABINET DECIDED ON URBAN PLANNING INCENTIVES - Filenews 9/4
The Council of Ministers decided to extend the validity of the Urban Planning Incentives Plan for the purpose of strengthening the education sector, until the end of 2027, at its meeting yesterday. The Plan was first implemented in 2025 with the aim of encouraging development activity in the field of education.
The aim of extending the validity of the Plan is to encourage developments in the field of primary and secondary education, as well as to accelerate their licensing, pending the re-evaluation of the Standards for Educational Institutions and the maximum permitted development coefficients for schools in urban areas, in the context of the revision of the Local Plans of the four large urban agglomerations.
The decision to renew the Plan was taken after evaluating the performance of its implementation so far. Specifically, in a period of one year, 30 urban planning applications were submitted for schools, nationwide, of which ten benefit from the provisions of the Plan.
It is recalled that the Scheme applies to applications for new schools or for additions/conversions to existing primary and secondary education institutions. Briefly, it provides:
(a) increase of the maximum allowed building factor from 10% to 25% according to the area of application,
(b) the possibility of reducing the area of open spaces and sports by 25%, provided that the consent of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth is obtained,
(c) payment of reduced compensation for the increase in the building factor compared to the compensation of the Urban Planning Incentives Scheme for the recovery of development activity,
(d) interconnection of the compensation paid under the Scheme with the Special Affordable Housing Fund of the Cyprus Land Development Organization, and
(e) Definition of an accelerated licensing procedure, with a four-month deadline for processing the examination of the application.
