Irishplanningnews.ie

The CSO has released its quarterly statistics for Q3 2012 based on planning permissions approved around the country.  The headline is that there is a decrease of 34.8% for approved dwelling units when compared with the same period in 2011 and this has been picked up by many media outlets.

However, typical of the Irish obsession with houses, these statistics really only focus on dwellings, with all other approvals being lumped together as ‘other’.  This ‘other’ category includes new commercial development such as, for example, wind farms, retail, industrial, agricultural buildings etc. 

It is of note that since Q4 in 2011 (which was an all time low since the Celtic Tiger period) the number of approvals for ‘other’ development has steadily been on the increase (from 681 to 1,050 in Q3 2012). 

Whilst it is too early to say if this is a trend, it does raise the question of why statistics being released by a Government body continues to focus on housing only (apart from a brief reference to an increased in approvals for agricultural buildings).  Given our previous over-dependence on housing surely it’s time to pay more attention to trends in planning approvals for other parts of the economy also?