Local Development Plan (LDP) 2032
Latest News
PAC Announce September Dates for Start of Derry-Strabane LDP Independent Examination (IE)
3rd May 2023
The Local Development Plan Team formally Submitted the Derry City & Strabane District Local Development Plan (LDP 2032) – draft Plan Strategy and supporting documents to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) on 26th May 2022 as part of the Independent Examination (IE) process. All LDP Submission documents can be viewed here. They are also available for inspection during normal office opening hours, by appointment only, at the Council's two main offices in Derry and Strabane.
Following the Submission of the LDP draft Plan Strategy in May, the Department considered it, to check it is procedurally ‘sound’, that there are no obvious gaps in the evidence base and it is not fundamentally flawed in relation to its regional context. The Council received a formal letter from DfI Planning on 20th September 2022, stating that the Submission had successfully passed its initial checks, so it would be writing to the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) to ‘cause an Independent Examination’.
The Council has since made the Submission documents available to the PAC, who have appointed a Programme Officer – who has undertaken their initial assessment of the LDP dPS and other Submission documents. The PAC wrote to the Council on 23rd December 2022 to advise that it had completed its initial document assessment so it had appointed Senior Commissioner Diane O’Neill to undertake the Independent Examination (IE) of our LDP dPS. This IE will be the next step towards adoption of the LDP Plan Strategy.
At the end of April 2023, the PAC wrote to the Council, advising that the Commissioner will begin the LDP Independent Examination’s public hearing sessions at 10.30am on 5th September 2023 for an initial two-week period (of approx. 6 weeks in total), with sessions being conducted remotely. These sessions will be available for the public to stream live on YouTube. A link to the stream will be made available on the Planning Appeals Commission’s website shortly before the beginning of the sessions.
The PAC ‘Guidance Notes for Participants’ have been published and are available on the PAC website (DCS Examination Library). A specific procedural document will be published prior to the opening of the remote hearing sessions explaining how they will operate. Further details on the LDP IE will be found at https://www.pacni.gov.uk/derry-city-strabane
Who we are?
On 1st April 2015, Planning powers transferred from the Department of the Environment (DOE) to the Derry City and Strabane District Council.
The Council now also has powers of Local Development Plan (LDP), Development Management and Enforcement which it will implement in cases where planning laws have been breached.
The LDP Team, together with senior Council officers and the elected Members of the Council (Planning Committee), are responsible for producing the LDP for our District.
What is LDP?
The purpose of the Derry City and Strabane District LDP, is to inform the general public, statutory authorities, developers and other interested bodies of the policy framework and land use proposals that will implement the strategic objectives of the Regional Development Strategy and guide development decisions within Derry City and Strabane District up to 2032.
Our new LDP will be prepared within the context of the Council’s Corporate Plan and will co-ordinate with the Community Planning process to enable us to plan positively for the future of our District. It will ensure that lands are appropriately zoned and that our infrastructure is enhanced to develop the District for future generations.
The LDP must also take account of the regional policy context set by the Northern Ireland Executive and Central Government Departments. This includes, amongst others, the Sustainable Development Strategy, Regional Development Strategy and the Strategic Planning Policy Statement - published in September 2015.
The LDP will comprise two separate documents that will shape development within our District over the period to 2032
- The Plan Strategy
- The Local Policies Plan
The LDP will, on adoption of both its component plan documents, replace the Strabane Area Plan 2001 and the Derry Area Plan 2011 and the suite of Planning Policy Statements (PPS’s) that were produced by the Department of the Environment.
See current NI Planning Policy Statements:
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/publications/retained-planning-policy
See current NI Planning Guidance documents:
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/planning/planning-guidance
See Strategic Planning Policy Statement for NI (SPPS):
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/publications/strategic-planning-policy-statement
See Regional Development Strategy for NI (RDS 2035):
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/regional-planning
See current NI Planning Legislation:
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/current-planning-legislation
VIEW OUR DISTRICT’S CURRENT AREA PLANS
Until such times as the LDP is adopted, the relevant Area Plans currently applicable to our District are the Derry Area Plan 2011, adopted in May 2000 and the Strabane Area Plan 2001, adopted in April 1991.
Click on the following link to view an online version of the Derry Area Plan and its associated documents.
Download the Derry Area Plan 2011
Click on the following link to view an online version of the Derry Area Plan 2011, Designated Flat Zone Map – FL1.
Derry Area Plan 2011, Designated Flat Zone Map – FL1
Click on the following pdf to view an online version of the Strabane Area Plan.
Download the Strabane Area Plan 2001
THE LDP TIMETABLE, Revised december 2021
The LDP Timetable has been formally revised, advertised and published in December 2021. The Timetable sets out Derry City and Strabane District Council's programme for the production of its Local Development Plan (LDP 2032) and includes details of the key stages in the process.
This Revised LDP Timetable was approved by the Council and DfI; it anticipates holding the Independent Examination (IE) of the LDP draft Plan Strategy at the end of 2022.
View the Local Development Plan (LDP) Timetable 2021
Monitoring
The Council monitors the amount of housing land and number of units built together with the amount of economic land across the District as well as various environmental indicators. The annual Housing Monitor tracks the progress of housing completions across the District and provides the basis for informing how and where best to distribute housing across the settlement hierarchy.
Housing Monitor sites are those which are identified as potentially suitable for residential development in prevailing development plans through zonings and any other urban sites that have been granted planning permission for residential development. Therefore, the Housing Monitor only relates to sites on zoned Housing land and planning approvals and is only within the respective settlement limits.
The Council’s ongoing monitoring will contribute towards the legislative obligations to prepare an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) which must contain information on the extent to which the objectives of the LDP are being achieved.
The purpose of the Housing Monitor is to:
- Monitor the course of housing development in settlements with regard to the Regional Development Strategy (RDS);
- Monitor progress of housing developments in settlements in accordance with the provisions of prevailing Development Plans;
- Inform the preparation of our new LDP with regard to the allocation of land for housing; and
- Provide information on the available potential for further housing development in settlements.
A copy of the Council's Housing Monitor for the 2021-2022 period can be accessed below:
Housing Monitor 2021-2022 update report
A copy of the Council’s Housing Monitor for the 2018 – 19 period can be accessed below.
A copy of the Council’s Housing Monitor for the 2014- 17 period can be accessed below.
Disclaimer
Please note that the NILUD database was set up for the former Derry City and Strabane District Councils – so the reports are still presented on this basis. In line with the new Council's LDP, these settlements will be merged in due course.
Data contained in these Monitors is derived from planning permissions and from Building Control completions data through Land and Property Services (LPS).
Derry City & Strabane District Council provides no warranty in relation to the accuracy for the information contained within these Monitors. Any person placing reliance on this data does so at their own risk.