La Vall de Bianya

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Catalonia allows no new houses on rustic land. Restoring an existing or listed building is the way.

DL 1/2010, art. 47. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Normas Subsidiarias (an older, simpler plan), from 2004. 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 8 wells and boreholes in La Vall de Bianya. Half of the 8 with a depth found water at 43–50 m. One spring is recorded.

Ground: 59% porous aquifer, medium productivity; 25% low permeability, local groundwater only; 10% porous aquifer, high productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• No mapped fire since 2016.
• 1.6% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 2.1% in the 500-year one.
• 0.5% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 46% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• 46% of the municipality is a protected natural area, whose plan limits what can be done.
• Radon zone I: new and restored homes need radon protection by law.
• Basic seismic acceleration 0.11 g: new buildings need seismic design.

Living here

• 4G reaches 97% of homes; fibre 61%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 733 mm a year (1971–2000), about 633 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 26.4 °C, about 30 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 69 a year, about 41 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Riudaura · Sant Pau de Segúries · Montagut i Oix · Camprodon · Olot · Sant Joan les Fonts · Sant Joan de les Abadesses