Local authorities decide on only half of all planning bids within deadline

A total of 35,725 planning applications were made to local authorities last year, some 29,936 of which were for individual houses, according to a report on public service indicators released yesterday. The report from the Local Government Management Services Board revealed that on average three quarters of the individual house applications were granted, with just two thirds of multi-house applications granted. The report does not analyse whether the individual houses were located within zoned housing land or were one-off homes in the countryside. But it does indicate that just over one third of all planning authority refusals for individual houses were overturned by An Bord Pleanala. The board overturned just under a third of multi-house development refusals.

The Irish Times