Hernani

Can you build a house on rustic land?

The Basque Country allows a new house on rustic land only when a farm needs it. Otherwise it has to go in a village, or restore a building.

Ley 2/2006, art. 28. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Normas Subsidiarias (an older, simpler plan), from 2011. The region's planning viewer ↗

The national urban information system (SIU) maps the land class for 100% of the municipality.

Only the town hall can confirm it, in writing: ask for a certificado urbanístico.

Is there water?

IGME records 11 wells and boreholes in Hernani. Half of the 10 with a depth found water at 9–16 m. 14 springs are recorded.

Ground: 66% practically impermeable; 17% low permeability, local groundwater only; 8.1% porous aquifer, high productivity; 5.4% porous aquifer, medium productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• No mapped fire since 2016.
• 7.2% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 8.1% in the 500-year one.
• 5.4% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 19% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 14% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Not a radon zone.

Living here

• 4G reaches 100% of homes; fibre 97%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 1,703 mm a year (1971–2000), about 1,456 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 22.7 °C, about 25 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 17 a year, about 7 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Urnieta · Arano · Errenteria · Astigarraga · Lasarte-Oria · Elduain · Donostia / San Sebastián