31% drop in construction activity

THE number of buildings being constructed in Galway has plummeted by more than 30%, it was revealed this week.

The National Housing Construction Index, compiled and issued by Link2Plans, has shown the continued drop in construction activity in Galway. This, according to one local representative, is having a major impact in the area.
Researchers at www.link2plans.com produced the index which examined all planning applications and commencement notices from January to April 2012. The index gives a direct comparison with the exact same period in 2011.
The research shows that from January to April 2012, 295 planning applications were submitted in Galway. This compared to 358 in 2011, resulting in a drop of 18%.
The same period saw a significant drop in the number of commencement notices issued in Galway from 166 to 115, a percentage decrease of 31%. Galway is now one of the poorest performing counties in planning commencements.
“There have been very few planning applications going through. The most common thing we have at the moment is extension of time applications where planning has been got but the five years allowed for work to start is running out. I have noticed that the local authority has got sticky on that and is now asking for documentation to prove that you cannot finance building the house at the moment. You have to give a reason why you haven’t begun work within the five years and if you say finance, which a lot of people do, you have to get a letter from the bank.
“I think that is one reason why commencements are down. Also, when there is planning permission on sites but the owners of these sites don’t have the opportunity to develop them, you won’t have anyone else coming in looking for planning because there will be an oversupply,” said local councillor Gerry Finnerty.
“Unemployment is certainly the biggest effect of the lack of building. We see no construction whatsoever going on right now in South Galway. When there is no construction, there is no employment on the sites and, as well as that, jobs go in the hardware stores, machine drivers lose out, tradesmen, DIY shops, right the way down to the local corner shops, which provide the breakfast rolls and the restaurants that provide the dinners, they are all affected,” he went on.
The index shows a significant variation in planning applications and construction from county to county, while at the same time clearly demonstrating the overall national trend in housing construction activity.
According to managing director of Link2Plans, Danny O’Shea, “Statistics in the construction sector have traditionally been historical data. However, what we do with Link2Plans research is to clearly show current patterns of activity, broken down into every county in Ireland. People using our services want to know where the construction activity is, in real time. This National Housing Construction Index therefore provides this information in a reliable yet understandable format.
“When we examine planning applications across every county, effectively we are taking the sentiment of the housing construction activity at any given time. New planning applications are therefore what we would describe as a real-time barometer to sentiment in the sector.
“Correspondingly, housing commencement notices, that we collate, are a real-time count of actual, on-the-ground activity in the housing construction sector, which includes multi-unit residential developments, one-off housing and one-off housing extensions.”