Significant rise in appeals over housing projects

The number of appeals to An Bord Pleanála involving developments of over 30 houses has increased significantly in the last four years.

According to the 2016 An Bord Pleanála annual report, there were 91 appeals lodged against local authority decisions concerning the development of large housing projects.

That compares with only 19 appeals in 2013.

The report states that of the 91 appeals last year, 38 were related to proposals for more than 100 housing units.

Appeals can delay projects for at least four months.

To overcome delays, the Government recently introduced rules to allow developers to lodge directly to An Bord Pleanála applications for large housing plans. The move is expected to cut the time it takes for housing plans to get through the planning process.

The annual report also reveals that legal costs at An Bord Pleanála soared 67% to €3.78m, involving 48 legal challenges against the board.

According to the report, the legal challenges featured a significant number of wind farms and quarries.

The legal cases contributed to the board posting a loss of €1.1m, after generating income of €21m.

The number of staff employed by the board increased to 131.

It took in 2,163 cases in 2016, an increase of 9% in the year.

The report shows that almost 15% of planners’ recommendations were not accepted by the board. The average time to deal with planning cases was 17 weeks.