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Local Development Plans across Northern Ireland: Where are we now?

As we start to emerge from pandemic restrictions we provide a useful update on the status of the emerging Local Development Plans (LDPs) across Northern Ireland.

Despite restrictions, there has been some progress made over the course of 2021. This update provides a summary.

Independent Examination of Belfast City Council Draft Plan Strategy concluded by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC)

18 months on from the submission of the Draft Plan Strategy (dPS) the Independent Examination (IE) hearing sessions have been completed.  The PAC forwarded their report to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) on 29 September 2021 who will take time to review the PAC conclusions. The next step will be for DfI to issue the report alongside their instruction on whether or not the dPS is sound and can be formally adopted. We anticipate release of this information in Q4 2021/Q1 2022.

Draft Plan Strategies referred to the PAC for Independent Examination

Five councils have had their plans referred to the PAC for Independent Examination and we are currently monitoring their progress at this stage. 

The PAC has now started to appoint commissioners to each council area and it is worth noting that the hearing sessions for the Fermanagh and Omagh DC Plan Strategy will commence on 18 January 2022.  Below is a summary of the current position for those plans which are with the PAC.

Table 1: Draft Plan Strategies instructed to proceed to IE.

 Table 1: Draft Plan Strategies instructed to proceed to IE.

Draft Plan Strategy awaiting submission to the Department for Independent Examination

Derry City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC)

Consultation on the dPS concluded in January 2021, however this has resulted in revisions to the draft policies and therefore a further period of consultation on focussed changes is expected to take place before the plan is submitted to DfI. We anticipate that further consultation is likely to take place in Q4 2021/Q1 2022.

Draft Plan Strategies to be published

Of the 11 council areas, four have not yet published a Draft Plan Strategy for consultation. The table below summarises the status of those Plan Strategies.

Table 2: Draft Plan Strategies awaiting publication

Table 2: Draft Plan Strategies awaiting publication

Should you have any queries about the information contained in this update please contact Angela Wiggam, Emma Kelly or Catriona Blair.

15 November 2021

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