Settlement Proposals
Towns
 

 


BALLYMONEY
DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT and STRATEGY


Ballymoney is a typical Northern Ireland market town which acts as an important local service centre providing a wide range of retail, health, educational, community and social services for the town’s population and its significant rural hinterland. Ballymoney town is the third largest settlement within the Plan area and is the only town within Ballymoney Borough. With numerous housing developments over the past decade, there has been an increase of 11 % in the population of the town to 9, 009 by 2001.

Within the Regional Development Strategy’s Spatial Framework for Rural Northern Ireland, Ballymoney is recognised as a local hub and is strategically located along the Northern Corridor, which links Belfast to Londonderry. Due to its location, the town has excellent road links to all parts of the region, particularly the north, the north west, and the gateways of Belfast, Larne and the International Airport. In comparison to other towns of a similar size in Northern Ireland, Ballymoney is well served by both regional rail and bus services. Ballymoney is 75 kilometres from Belfast, 55 kilometres from Londonderry and 58 kilometres from Belfast International Airport.

In the 15 years from mid 1988 to mid 2004, a total of 1,382 new dwellings were completed in Ballymoney. There has been major residential expansion throughout the town but in particular to the north on the inner side of the by-pass between the Knock and Kirk Roads, and to the south between the Bann and Bravallen Roads.

Little is known about the origins of Ballymoney, except that the original settlement developed around two Celtic forts. In 1603 the first planters, lowland Scots, arrived in the Ballymoney area, developing the town to such an extent that it had an adult population of 149 persons by 1659. The town, by the 1830s, had acquired all the public buildings that would then have been expected in a market town of this size. This included five churches, a market house, the bridewell (jail), schoolhouse, grain stores, an assembly room and two hotels. The railway from Belfast reached the town in 1855 and with the opening of the narrow gauge line to Ballycastle in 1880, Ballymoney achieved the status of a railway junction for the next 70 years.

It was not until the Post-War period with large-scale erection of public authority housing creating new suburbs south of the railway and between Market Street and Kirk Road, that there was a significant expansion of the town. This coincided in the 1950s and 1960s with the attraction of substantial manufacturing employment, which greatly extended Ballymoney’s historic market town function.

While Ballymoney has maintained a steady manufacturing base over the years, its retail function has been subject to increased competition from the neighbouring towns of Coleraine and Ballymena. The town has, however, experienced a recent upsurge in the housing market which, coupled with a number of successful town centre regeneration initiatives and its strategic location, have made Ballymoney an increasingly attractive and popular place to live.

In 1994 a Conservation Area was designated in the central part of Ballymoney, the boundary of which is shown on the Ballymoney Town Centre Map. Detailed guidance on development within the Conservation Area is provided in the Ballymoney Conservation Area Design Guide booklet. On the basis of this supplementary planning guidance considerable progress has been made in the past decade in enhancing the Conservation Area, particularly the commercial core, with sympathetic repairs and inappropriate superficial alterations of previous years replaced by more appropriate building detail.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Consistent with Ballymoney’s role as a Local Hub in the Regional Development Strategy, the Plan will provide for the continued expansion of the town’s residential, industrial, commercial, educational and recreational functions. The town has the critical mass of population, and the range of facilities to facilitate sustainable development minimising the need to travel out of the town. It is strategically located on the regional transport corridor with generally good relations between the main communities. The town therefore has a good base for expansion.

The emphasis is on achieving an attractive, compact and efficient living environment. The rapid physical growth in the past has been of a relatively loose urban form, including considerable undeveloped and under-used areas. The North East Area Plan provided extensive areas of zoned housing land along with areas of undeveloped ‘white land’ that have only partially been developed. With the emphasis of the Regional Strategy on achieving a more compact and more sustainable urban form, and the very considerable amount and range of urban capacity sites identified within the urban footprint, it is considered that there is no longer a need for much of the undeveloped land in the last Plan to remain zoned. Accordingly, the town’s development limit has been defined to exclude more peripheral sites, and the Green Belt has correspondingly been modestly expanded.

The Plan focuses on the promotion of the identified town centre as the main retail and commercial centre within Ballymoney Borough. A major retail survey was carried out in the summer of 2003 indicated that 94% of Ballymoney respondents used their local town for shopping, although there were retail sectors such as books, toys and furniture, with considerably lower use of the town. The reasons given for such a high figure include a good atmosphere, friendliness of staff, and most importantly, convenience. The town centre has within it a number of opportunity and target sites, predominately in the area between Linenhall Street and High Street. The redevelopment of these will be promoted through the Plan, so that the physical environment is enhanced and the town centre economy is further strengthened.

Ballymoney is adequately provided for in terms of leisure facilities and recreational land. These have been identified and will be protected from unrelated development.  Ballymoney Borough Council has spent considerable time and resources in successfully developing the Riverside Park and Riada Playing Fields. Plans are also underway to link the Riverside Park with the grounds of the Joey Dunlop Centre, with a major open space development including a cycleway/footpath.

The Department considers that there is more than sufficient undeveloped industrial land remaining from the last Plan. Consistent with the Regional Development Strategy there should be a generous supply of industrial land, the Plan has retained all the existing industrial zonings with the exception of that land adjacent to Knock Road. Furthermore, Ballybrakes industrial estate is designated for employment purposes. These are expected to provide for any demand for industrial/ business uses.