Municipal Assemblies call for “more means” to implement new land law

Portugal’s association of municipal assemblies has called for ‘empowerment of local democratic power’ to accompany the increase in responsibilities coming from the change in the land law. In a statement today, the association has welcomed the opportunity to have more control but says municipal bodies need training, in order to know exactly how to handle it. The purpose of the change in the law, according to the government, is to “guarantee a special reclassification regime for urban land, the majority of which must be allocated to public housing or moderate value housing. The concept of moderate value housing seeks to cover access by the middle class, weighing up average values in the local and national markets to ensure the realisation of social justice”.