Planning applications tumble

The number of planning applications received by councils in the three months to December 2008 was 26 per cent lower than in the same period in 2007, with decisions on planning applications for residential developments decreasing by 25 per cent in the final quarter. Councils were also found to have processed 70 per cent of major applications within 13 weeks in their period, unchanged from the previous year, but still short of the 80 per cent target planned by 2011.