Agricultural Territory Planning in Bulgaria - Current Functionality of Legislation and Perspectives

Development Planning for the Agricultural Territory is a problematic activity in Bulgaria in terms of the existing legal requirements. Bulgarian legislation contains certain gaps in regulating and technically ensuring the agricultural land planning. This is well settled in relation to the other types of territories like the Urban, Forest, and Protected ones, which planning rules and activities are regulated in details. The purpose of the paper is firstly to justify the necessity of improving and detailing the legal regulations for the agricultural land development planning, and secondly to suggest some expert approaches for improving and harmonization of legislation in connection with registration of the agricultural property by Agricultural Territory Development Plan (ATDP), Restored Property Map (RPM) and Cadastral Map (CM). The current legal grounds for planning development of the agricultural land in Bulgaria are presented and analysed. Lack of detailed regulations on their scope, content and operation have been found. It is also a matter of applicability of the newly created municipal CMs in settling land relations such as purchases and sales of land, inheritances, divisions, and changing the primary purpose of use of Agricultural Territory for construction. The completeness of CM with information about the quality of agricultural lands is still not regulated by Cadaster and Property Register Act. The paper contains specific proposals for amendments in Spatial Planning Act, Cadastral and Property Registry Act and Agricultural Land Ownership and Use Act.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2025).