Planning permission grants up 30.6%

THERE was a 30.6% increase in the number of planning permissions granted last year as people attempted to cash in on lucrative tax incentive schemes ahead of the December deadline, it emerged yesterday.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday show that 25,790 planning permissions were granted for new dwellings in the last three months of 2004 compared with 19,752 in the same period in 2003.

This major surge in demand for planning permissions in the final quarter of 2004 was because anyone who wanted to avail of a series of tax incentive schemes had to have their planning permission secured by December of last year.