Planning applications in westmeath rise by 20

Planning applications in Westmeath have risen by 20% in the first two months of this year, when compared to the same period last year, according to the National Housing Construction Index.
However, while planning applications are on the rise, commencements in Westmeath have fallen by 89%.
The data contained in the National Housing Construction Index is aggregated by consultancy Link2Plans from real time planning and project information in every local authority area and shows that applications are up by 9% nationally, while commencements are down by 62%.
According to Danny O’Shea Managing Director of Link2Plans: “Commencements are down in every county when compared to the same period last year with an overall national decrease of 62%. However, as noted at the time by Link2Plans, 2014 was an exceptional year due to regulatory changes. The introduction of changes to the building regulations in March 2014 caused an unprecedented surge in commencements, which was akin a one off stimulus boost. In fact, commencements for the first two months of the 2015 are up over 3% on the same period in 2013 which probably gives a more accurate picture of the steady but slow growth in the sector.”
“As building applicants rushed to lodge their commencements before the changes to the building regulations came into force on March 1, 2014, it created an anomaly in the market with an increase in commencements of 132% for the first quarter of 2014. These were exceptional gains and ones which we don’t anticipate will be repeated in the medium term.” continued Danny O’Shea Managing Director of Link2Plans.
“The fall in project commencements nationally reflects the situation in Westmeath, which also saw commencements fall sharply. Nationally, the number of project commencements fell by 1,117 from 1,816 to 699 when compared with the same period in 2014,” he said.