Villarcayo de Merindad de Castilla la Vieja

Can you build a house on rustic land?

Castilla y León 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 5/1999, art. 23.1.e. A town plan can be stricter.

Plan in force: Normas Subsidiarias (an older, simpler plan), from 2015. 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?

No well or borehole is recorded in Villarcayo de Merindad de Castilla la Vieja. That is not proof there is no water: ask local drillers. One spring is recorded.

Ground: 40% karstic or fissured aquifer, high productivity; 27% practically impermeable; 18% porous aquifer, high productivity; 6.1% low permeability, local groundwater only; 5.6% porous aquifer, medium productivity.

Choosing where to drill takes a hydrogeologist.

What to watch for

• No mapped fire since 2016.
• 4.1% of the municipality lies in the 100-year flood zone; 5.6% in the 500-year one.
• 2.6% of the municipality is preferential flow zone, where new building is generally banned.
• 16% of the municipality is Natura 2000: new works need the region's consent.
• Not a radon zone.

Living here

• 4G reaches 99% of homes; fibre 88%. Averages for the municipality.
• Rain: 701 mm a year (1971–2000), about 596 by 2041–2070.
• Summer highs: 24.7 °C, about 27.9 °C by 2041–2070.
• Frost days: 69 a year, about 46 by 2041–2070.

Around it

Valle de Manzanedo · Merindad de Sotoscueva · Merindad de Valdivielso · Medina de Pomar · Merindad de Cuesta-Urria · Merindad de Montija · Merindad de Valdeporres