What can you build in Wallonia?

The sector plan (plan de secteur) fixes the land use of every area for all of Wallonia: residential area, residential area of rural character, agricultural area, forest area, area for economic activity and so on; the CoDT (book II) says what is allowed in each area. It is binding: a permit may only depart from it in the cases the law provides. The Perceelscan tells you, address by address, which area the plot lies in, and which part lies in which area: at the edge of a residential area, often only the strip along the street is residential.

A local orientation scheme (schéma d’orientation local, SOL) details the regional zoning plan for part of the municipality. What used to be a municipal development plan (PCA), an urban and environmental report (RUE) or a master scheme (schéma directeur) has counted as a SOL since the CoDT, with indicative value. The municipal development scheme (schéma de développement communal, formerly schéma de structure) sets out where the municipality wants to go, for its whole territory. For a plan that revised or departed from the regional zoning plan: ask the municipality which zoning applies. Wallonia has 1,550 local schemes in force; the municipalities with the most are Charleroi (109), Liège (63) and Mons (50).

The regional planning guide (guide régional d’urbanisme) is binding where it applies: in a protected urban area (zone protégée en matière d’urbanisme) and in a village under the regulation on building in rural areas (RGBSR) it sets rules for façades, materials and volumes. A municipal planning guide (guide communal d’urbanisme) and the old municipal regulations are indicative. Not every municipal guide is in the register: check with the municipality. 56 municipalities have a protected urban area; the RGBSR applies in 176 villages.

For most works, yes: building, converting, extending, demolishing, changing the relief of the land or changing the number of homes in a building require a planning permit (permis d’urbanisme, CoDT art. D.IV.4); some small works are exempt. You apply to the municipality. When a property is sold, the municipality gives the notary the planning information on the plot.

3,579 listed properties (monuments, sites, ensembles and archaeological sites), of which 256 are exceptional heritage; the municipalities with the most are Liège (450), Tournai (204) and Mons (172). The Perceelscan tells you, address by address, whether the plot is listed, lies in a protection zone or is in the inventory.

In Wallonia no regional rule says how many m² of floor area a plot may take: it follows from a local scheme, a guide or the surroundings, and the permitting authority decides on a concrete design. The Perceelscan tells you, address by address, which schemes and guides apply and what could stand in the way of a project.

Not yet. Since 1 January 2020 the German-speaking Community has governed spatial planning in its nine municipalities itself, with its own rules; those municipalities will follow later.