The so-called ALUR law (for Access to Housing and Renovated Town Planning), published in the Official Journal on 26 March 2014 amends, among other things, Article L. 123-1-5 of the Town Planning Code and abolishes the land occupation coefficient (COS) as well as the possibility of determining a minimum surface area for building plots in the regulations of the Local Town Planning Plan (PLU). The aim is to enable the best possible use to be made of the land still available and to renew the urban fabric.
As a reminder, the COS is a coefficient used to calculate the buildable area of a plot of land.
For example, with a floor area ratio of 0.25, a floor area of 250m² could be built on a plot of 1000m² (1000 x 0.25 = 250). However, this is only theoretical, given the existence of any other rules limiting buildability (rules on setbacks from neighbouring plots, height or floor area).
The abolition of the floor area ratio is justified by the fact that, in practice, it is an inappropriate tool. In fact, it easily allows local authorities to limit a priori the buildability of plots of land without any real, well-considered urban study.
The abolition of the COS also entails the abolition of certain tools. These include building bonuses, the transfer of COSs, control of residual buildability, and the payment for sub-density.
Act no. 2014-366 of 24 March 2014 (known as the ALUR Act) also abolished town planning rules requiring a minimum size for building plots. In some cases, these rules had led to a waste of space that did not correlate with the legislator's initial intention, which was to preserve landscape interest, traditional urban development or to comply with technical constraints relating to non-collective sanitation.
The abolition of the COS and the minimum plot size should encourage all local authorities to think carefully about their urban planning policies. The rules on setbacks, heights, floor space and volume, which were sometimes superfluous in the past, are now essential and can no longer be treated lightly. Urban planning is an important issue that must not be confined to general rules, but must be observed in detail. In this respect, the ALUR law meets current expectations.
However, it is extremely regrettable that the abolition of the COS and the minimum surface area for plots of land came into force immediately for those municipalities where these two planning rules were the only "urban safeguards". For some municipalities, this immediate abolition meant that large-scale building projects could be approved and authorised without any connection to the local habitat.
It should be noted that the scope of this abolition applies only to local town planning schemes (PLU) and conservation and enhancement schemes (PSMV).
In municipalities with a land use plan (POS), the COS and any minimum plot sizes remain in place. It should be noted that from 1 January 2016, the POS will become null and void, or at the latest three years after the publication of the ALUR law, if the preparation of a PLU was undertaken before 1 January 2016.
