Assess retail,commericial, leisure, town centre health to inform Local Dev Plan.

Tender description

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council (Council) is preparing a Local Development Plan (LDP) for its district in accordance with its statutory duty under the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. When adopted in full, the new LDP will replace the following extant Area Plans relating to the three legacy Councils: • Ballymena Area Plan 1986 – 2001 • Larne Area Plan 2010 • Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP) 2015 (insofar as it relates to the former Carrickfergus Borough Council area) / Carrickfergus Area Plan 2001 The main purpose of the new LDP is to inform the general public, statutory authorities, service providers, developers and other interested parties of the policy framework and land use proposals that will guide decisions on planning applications for development in Mid and East Antrim (MEA) until 2030. The new LDP is a two stage process and will comprise two development plan documents, namely: • The Plan Strategy • The Local Policies Plan The Plan Strategy will set out a spatial growth strategy that will indicate in broad terms, the locations where various types of development (such as housing and retail) will be facilitated along with the anticipated amount of such development. It will also include a range of strategic planning policies to properly manage development across the Borough. The Revised Plan Timetable has programmed the delivery of the draft Plan Strategy for the third quarter of 2018. It will then be subject to public consultation, followed by Independent Examination, before being adopted by Council. The Local Policies Plan (LPP) will be prepared within the framework provided by the adopted Plan Strategy. It will incorporate site specific proposals and local designations such as land use zonings for housing and economic development, town centre boundaries, and town centre opportunity sites. The draft LPP will also be subject to public consultation and Independent Examination before the LDP in its totality is adopted by Council.