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The Regional Development Strategy, ‘Shaping our Future’, is a strategy for the development of Northern Ireland up to 2025. It contains a spatial development strategy and related strategic planning guidelines. The Department of the Environment, in conjunction with the Department of Regional Development, is currently working towards the production of a full suite of planning policy statements. These are gradually replacing the Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland. They contain policies on landuse and other planning matters that apply to the whole of Northern Ireland.
The Department of the Environment also prepares planning guidance to supplement, clarify or illustrate by example its policy statements and plans. It also includes a set of development control advice notes that explain the criteria and technical standards which the Department of the Environment considers when dealing with specific categories or particular aspects of development.
Development plans may be in the form of area plans, local plans or subject plans. They apply the regional policies of the Department of the Environment at the appropriate level, and must be in ‘general conformity’ with the Regional Development Strategy.
Development plans inform the general public, statutory authorities, developers and other interested bodies of the policy framework and land- use proposals that will be used to guide development decisions within their local area. In making its decisions on planning applications the Department of the Environment must take into account the relevant provisions of the Development Plan for the area.
Regional renewable energy planning policy is currently expressed in the Planning Service: Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland Policy PSU12. It is intended that this will eventually be replaced by a planning policy statement.
