Landowners and developers in Kiambu County have been hit with a sweeping overhaul of their land policies affecting all developments.

The county, through a notice, announced stringent new restrictions under updated spatial planning rules that will govern every application for land development.

The devolved unit has declared that no development will be approved unless it aligns with the zoning and spatial framework established in the Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plans (ISUDPs) for 2020-2030.

All applications will also have to meet conditions outlined in the Physical and Land Use Planning Act (PLUPA), 2019, the National Building Code, 2024, and a raft of new development control regulations.

Developers will now be legally bound to preserve agricultural land as part of any subdivision or change of use applications.

The rules demand that urban projects on parcels between 20 and 50 acres must retain 20 per cent for urban agriculture, while those above 50 acres must retain 30 per cent.

In peri-urban areas, 40 per cent of land must be preserved for farming, and rural projects must retain a staggering 80 per cent for agriculture.

These thresholds, embedded in the county’s zoning blueprint, are intended to curb unplanned sprawl and safeguard food systems.

Failure to comply with these requirements carries serious consequences.

The law states, “A person shall not carry out development within a county without a development permission granted by the respective county Executive Committee Member” (PLUPA, Section 57).

Section 58 of the same law warns that “any person who commences any development without obtaining development permission commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months or both.”

Additionally, Rule 7 of the development control regulations affirms, “A developer shall apply to the planning authority for planning approval in respect of a proposed subdivision or amalgamation.”

According to Wamatangi, the decision to make the radical changes has been necessitated by the unlawful subdivision of land into uneconomical land sizes and the conversion of rich agricultural land into other competing land uses.