Cork tops list for planning permission

Cork County Council granted the highest number of planning permissions for new houses in the first quarter of 2005, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO)yesterday.

The number of new houses permitted by the council, excluding one-off houses, at 2,152 was more than twice that of Donegal, which was the next highest at 1,041. This figure was almost three times that of Dublin City, which granted permission for just 706 new houses.

Cork County Council also approved the highest number of one-off houses in the period, giving permission for an additional 466 new homes.

In second place was Galway county, excluding the city area, which approved 455 one-off houses. In third place was Donegal with 409 separate approvals.

Cork County Council again featured among the local authorities granting large numbers of planning permission for apartments, with 706 approved in the first three months of this year.

The figure is higher than Fingal in north Dublin at 395; South Dublin at 335; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 142; and Cork City at 111.

Somewhat surprisingly, the figures fail to indicate a rush to get planning permissions in the upper Shannon tax rural renewal relief areas before this relief runs out next summer.

Overall, planning permissions in the quarter were approved for 25,350 new dwellings, a slight drop on the first quarter of 2004 when 25,401 new homes were approved.

The number of apartments which were approved was 6,437, again a drop from the first quarter last year when the number approved was 8,347.

As expected, the majority of planning permissions for new apartments were granted in Dublin city and county, but some rural counties also approved large number of apartment schemes. Included in this category were Donegal which approved 207; Monaghan which approved 206; and Sligo which approved 179. Kildare approved 314, while Wicklow approved just 68.

In a commentary with the figures, the Central Statistics Office said the number of one-off houses being approved in the countryside had fallen when compared to the first quarter of 2004, when it stood at 34.3 per cent of all new dwellings.

In the first quarter of 2005 the number of one-off houses had fallen to just 27.1 per cent of new dwellings.

The period covered would not reflect the easing of regulations announced by the Minister for the Environment Dick Roche last March.

While overall numbers of planning permissions are down on the similar period in 2004, the construction industry expects the number of new homes to be built this year to increase slightly on last year to about 80,000.