LASG moves to regulate informal spaces, targets orderly land use

The Lagos State Government has announced plans to take decisive steps to regulate and administer informal spaces across the state in line with its physical planning mandate.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, disclosed this on Tuesday while outlining the ministry’s strategic direction for the coming year.

He said the ministry would invoke the powers granted under the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law, 2019 (as amended), to ensure orderly land use and sustainable urban growth.

According to Olumide, the law vests the ministry with statutory responsibility for physical planning, land-use management, development coordination, and the regulation of spatial activities across the state—mandates that clearly extend to the administration of informal spaces.

He explained that informal spaces refer to public open areas not designated for permanent use but increasingly occupied without planning approval. These include road setbacks, walkways, under-bridge areas, drainage corridors, and undeveloped government land. He warned that their uncontrolled use poses significant risks to public safety, mobility, and the environment.

The commissioner said the planned assumption of full administrative control over informal spaces is aimed at strengthening land-use planning, promoting integrated urban development, and curbing unregulated activities in key corridors, gateways, and transitional zones across Lagos.

He disclosed that plans have been concluded to embark on extensive sensitisation and stakeholder engagement involving government agencies, market associations, transport unions, community leaders, and other interest groups, noting that cooperation and compliance would be critical to the success of the initiative.

Olumide emphasised that the intervention is not merely regulatory but strategic, as it seeks to enhance urban orderliness, improve the functionality and aesthetics of public spaces, and safeguard the integrity of the physical environment.

He added that effective control of informal spaces would improve mobility, safety, environmental quality, and overall liveability in the state, while aligning with Lagos’ vision of a resilient, inclusive, and well-planned megacity.

The commissioner reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to deploying professional planning tools, fostering inter-agency collaboration, and encouraging community participation to ensure the exercise is transparent, lawful, and sustainable.