1,549 planning applications approved and 425 refused by Meath Co Council in 2021
Meath Co Council granted planning permission to 78 per cent of all planning applications in 2021, while 22 per cent of applications were refused, according to the Planning Regulator's Annual Overview of the Planning System 2021, which was published last week.
The national average grant-rate in 2021 was 88.5 per cent. In total, there were 1,549 planning applications approved and 425 refused by Meath Co Council in 2021.
The report reviews key trends and outputs over the year in the wider planning system in Ireland. It includes a comparison with patterns in previous years and is the only analysis of its kind of the Irish planning system.
The report also identifies and makes observations on some of the key trends which reflect Ireland’s and each local authority’s planning performance in 2021. It includes key statistics and indicators relating to Meath Council.
The planning invalidation rate (the percentage of invalidated planning applications as a proportion of all applications made) in Meath decreased from 17.1 per cent in 2020 to 15.7 per cent in 2021.
Overall in 2021, 5.8 per cent of planning application decisions made by Meath Co Council were appealed to An Bord Pleanála. Of these, 33.8 per cent were reversed. The national average rate of appeal in 2021 was 6.7 per cent, the average reversal rate was 27.7 per cent; and Meath Co Council had a total of 179 sites designated by local authorities as either vacant and/or derelict. This contrasts with the CSO figure for the county of 4,640.1
Commenting on these findings, Planning Regulator, Niall Cussen said: “2021 was a year in which local authorities such as Meath County Council continued to deliver key statutory planning functions within strict timelines and in an operational environment that was challenging due to public health restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid pandemic.
"It is a great credit to the planning process in general that high levels of throughput in handling planning applications and appeals continued despite the pressures.”
The Office of the Planning Regulator was established in April 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments (the Mahon Tribunal).