Banbridge / Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015
Strategic Plan Framework: Settlement Zoned Land

In accordance with PPS 1 - General Principles, zoned land, along with the key site requirements which developers will be expected to meet, are set out and shown in Volumes 2 and 3 of the Plan. The zoning of land provides a basis for rational and consistent decisions on planning applications and provides a measure of certainty about which types of development will and will not be permitted.

Mixed Use sites are zoned where it is desirable to permit a degree of flexibility in the final use of the site. This could, for example, be to allow for a range of uses at a particularly accessible location in a town or to provide for social and/or community facilities in villages.

Development Opportunity Sites are zoned where lands in city and town centres are under-utilised or vacant and where development, which might provide a mix of new uses, could promote the vitality and viability of the urban area or town centre, or could enhance the townscape, for example, by closing frontage gaps or by replacing unattractive features. Such development within a town centre could enhance shopping frontages, encourage pedestrian movement and so assist commercial growth.

It is not the Department's practice to zone land within small settlements. Zoning creates a degree of inflexibility that can restrict the orderly development of smaller settlements. However, exceptionally sites have been identified where they are required for planned community facilities or to meet identified social housing need.

Development proposals on zoned land will be considered in the context of all prevailing regional planning policy and with any relevant Plan Policies and Proposals, including, where specified, key site requirements.