Cutting Red Tapes - Lex Developer and Integrated Investment Plan in Polish Regional Capitals

Abstract

In 2018, Poland introduced measures to reduce red tape for housing projects carried out by developers. A temporary regulation, known as Lex Developer, was designed to streamline planning procedures and reduce preparation time for residential investment projects. Lex Developer was later superseded by Integrated Investment Plans (IIP), introduced in Poland as part of the 2023 spatial planning reform. IIP applies to all projects, not just residential ones, and marks a new approach to cooperation between investors and local authorities in spatial planning and development. The authors examined the scale of Lex Developer application in Polish regional capitals and whether cities where Lex Developer had been utilized also attracted investor interest in Integrated Investment Plans. Their research found no clear evidence of intensive use of Lex Developer and a lack of continued activity under Integrated Investment Plans. Given the limited time validity of the new rules, the results should be treated with caution, but the authors indicate very large differences among the surveyed cities in the scale of the application of new solutions and a lack of an increase in housing construction due to cutting red tape. The authors conducted desk research and case study analyses.