Refunds amounting to €512,754, owed to those who restored or replaced their wooden balconies under a government scheme, are to be paid next month, the planning authority has promised.

When it was launched in January 2008, the scheme had a good response, attracting a total of 594 applications. Applicants were promised a refund of 60 per cent of the cost of their balcony's restoration or replacement, up to a maximum of €1,397, against a VAT receipt for the works.

So far, 202 of the applicants have been paid, receiving a total of €217,294. However, another 392 are still awaiting payments amounting to €512,754 in all. Some paperwork still needs to be sorted out by the planning authority in 64 of the latter cases, totalling €104,226, according to figures tabled in Parliament.

Although the deadline to submit the VAT receipts was February 2009, this was extended to December after several applicants informed Mepa they needed more time to complete the works.

Meanwhile, applicants who had finished their balcony restoration complained to Mepa and sent letters to The Times saying they were still waiting for their refund, almost a year after completion of the works.

When contacted, a Mepa spokesman said: "The authority regrets the delay in settling the outstanding amounts related to the wooden balcony grant scheme. It pledges to pay and settle all outstanding certified applications by the third week of March 2010."

The scheme was first launched in 1996 but was at the time limited to residents living in the Three Cities and Kalkara. Over the years, it was extended to other towns but in 2007 it was made eligible to all urban conservation areas and scheduled properties.