About the Belfast local development plan

Introduction

We are responsible for developing a Local Development Plan for Belfast, working with local people, to create a clear vision of how the council area should develop and what it will look like in the years to come.

The Local Development Plan will:

• provide a 15-year plan framework to support economic and social needs in the city
• facilitate growth by coordinating public and private investment to encourage development where it can be of most benefit to the wellbeing of the community
• allocate sufficient land to meet the needs of the city
• provide an opportunity for all stakeholders, including the public, to have a say about where and how development within the local area should take place
• provide a plan-led framework for rational and consistent decision making
• deliver the spatial aspects of The Belfast Agenda, the city's community plan.

Local Development Plan process

Ongoing engagement and community consultation is an important element of the Belfast Local Development Plan process ongoing alongside the work on the required Development Plan documentation and evidence base.

Here are the key pieces of work carried out so far: 

• Draft Plan Strategy (dPS) Submission
• Publication of Draft Plan Strategy responses for Counter Representations
• Consultation on Draft Plan Strategy
• Draft Plan Strategy Publication
• Preferred Options Paper (POP) Publication and Consultation
• AD001 Statement of Community Involvement (revised March 2018)
• AD002 Belfast Local Development Plan Timetable (revised November 2018)

*The draft Plan Strategy was prepared and submitted in line with the Local Development Plan Timetable (November 2018). Following submission of the draft Plan Strategy to the Department for Infrastructure and Planning Appeals Commission, the timetable has been revised and the current version is the Local Development Plan Timetable (July 2020).

The formal Development Plan documents, associated publications and evidence base are available to download from the Document Library.

Local Development Plan Timetable

The Local Development Plan (LDP) timetable sets out the key stages and indicative timescales in the process to produce the Belfast Local Development Plan. 

It will help to make sure that the plan process is efficiently managed, and that the key stakeholders, including the consultation bodies and the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC), are kept informed and can manage their own resources.

The timetable has been the subject of ongoing revision and the current version was approved in July 2020 to take account of the draft Plan Strategy submission.

• Read the Belfast Local Development Plan timetable (July 2020)

You can also request a copy of the Belfast Local Development Plan timetable (July 2020) by emailing planning@belfastcity.gov.uk.

Next steps

The Draft Plan Strategy documentation, representations and counter-representations were submitted to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) in August 2019 for consideration as part of an Independent Examination (IE) process.

DfI appointed the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) to conduct the IE  in December 2019 and the PAC held public hearings over two sessions between November 2020 and March 2021. The PAC made its recommendations in its report to DfI in September 2021. This report concluded that the draft Plan Strategy was, subject to recommended modifications, “sound”.

DfI issued a Direction under section 12(1)(b) of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 directing Belfast City Council to adopt the draft Plan Strategy with the modifications specified in the Direction.

In accordance with Required Modification ref. nos. MOD05, MOD06 & MOD11, the we have prepared an additional policy for inclusion in the final adopted Plan Strategy. This generally relates to the phasing of development in line with infrastructure provision.

DfI has also directed to us to carry out appropriate public consultation on the specific above-mentioned Required Modifications. 

Read about the consultation (link opens in new windw)

More information

If you have any queries on accessing the documentation, contact the Planning Office at localdevelopmentplan@belfastcity.gov.uk. Our Planning team can also help on 028 9050 0510