Summary:

Local plans are the basic legal acts used to execute the spatial policy within a commune area. This execution results in some legal, economic, environmental, and social changes. A great part of those changes requires some new spatial development plans to be agreed. The herby work includes the legal regulations concerning local plans of spatial development, their functions, goals and the results of those plans entering into force. The importance of local spatial development plans in shaping the spatial structure of rural areas is also considered  in this work. The research showed what are the results of adopting the local spatial development plans in rural areas. The changes in the spatial structure of Rakowiec settlement, placed within the area of Kwidzyn commune, were taken as the basis for the research.