Planning application approval/refusal rate in Kilkenny revealed

The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has published a new report that includes key statistics and indicators relating to Kilkenny County Council in 2021.

Some of the key findings in the report relating to Kilkenny County Council are:

• The planning invalidation rate (the percentage of invalidated planning applications as a proportion of all applications made) in County Kilkenny decreased from 8.5% in 2020 to 6.3%;
• In Kilkenny in 2021, 92% of all planning applications were granted permission while 8% were refused. The national average grant-rate in 2021 was 88.5%;
• In total, there were 843 planning applications approved and 77 refused by Kilkenny County Council;
• Overall in 2021, 6.4% of planning application decisions made by Kilkenny County Council were appealed to An Bord Pleanála. Of these, 48.5% were reversed;
• The national average rate of appeal was 6.7%, the average reversal rate was 27.7%;
• Kilkenny County Council had a total of 111 sites designated by local authorities as either vacant and/or derelict

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Commenting on these findings, Planning Regulator, Niall Cussen said that 2021 was a year in which local authorities such as Kilkenny 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," he said.

"While core planning functions continue to experience high volumes of activity, more is also being asked of local authorities."