PLANNING applications exceeded 1,000 for the first time since the late 1980s in Dartmoor National Park last year.
Despite a huge increase in the level of work being processed, the authority has attained a 78% level of public satisfaction with its planning services.
The high marks in the user satisfaction survey for 2003/2004 have resulted in an increase in the Government?s Planning Delivery Grant to DNPA from £75,000 to £152,000.
Communications officer for the authority Mike Nendick said a parallel could be drawn between the property boom at the moment and that of the 1980s.
?It is difficult to know for sure why there has been such as increase in applications but the market is very buoyant at the moment which could have had an impact,? he said.
This could also explain why alleged unauthorised development increased with almost 400 reports received in the year.
Approval rates continue at a high level (over 86%) yet there has been a 50% increase in the number of appeals to the Secretary of State. However, at the end of the year, the appeal figures showed an 87% success rate for the authority, well above the national average.