This article is from page 4 of the 2005-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
TWENTY-eight per cent of all planning decisions in Clare were reversed by An Bord Pleanala in 2004, four per cent less than the national average.
More than two thirds of Clare planning decisions appealed to the planning authority last year were for residential properties.
The board varied a further 27.3 per cent of the Clare planning au- thorities decisions, according to
An Bord Pleanala’s annual report.
Planning authorities in Clare made more than two and a half thousand planning decisions last year.
Clare County Council, Kilrush Town Council and Ennis Town Council – the three planning au- thorities in the county- made a de- cision on 2,564 planning applica- tions throughout 2004.
Five per cent, or 130, of those were appealed to An Bord Plean- Ee
The board upheld 44.4 per cent of the council’s decisions.
Almost eight per cent of the ap- peals were in relation to retail; with five per cent of appeals for utilities and a further five against mixed planning applications.
Ninety residential units were granted permission on appeal.
Chairperson of An Bord Pleanala, John O’Connor, said that the strong increase in the intake of planning appeals in 2004, was continuing in the current year and that this was
putting severe strain on the Board’s resources. It is now proving diffi- cult to maintain the performance achieved in 2004 in terms of the time taken to determine appeals.
Up to the end of September 2005, the intake of appeals and infra- structure cases was up 13 per cent on last year.
It is showing an increase of 27.5 per cent over two years. On present trends, the 2005 intake is set to ex- ceed 6,000 cases. This would be an all-time record.