Northern Area Plan 2016
Coleraine Borough: Castlerock (Page 1 of 2)

Castlerock was a small coastal hamlet until the arrival of the railway in the mid-Victorian era. At that time the railway company built a station and successfully promoted the development of Castlerock to generate passenger traffic. Following extensive residential development throughout the Post War period, it is now a sizeable village. It also retains a significant tourist function with two large caravan parks, a golf course, and other formal and informal recreational facilities and attractions in the locality. In the recent past there has been a rapid expansion in the number and proportion of second homes. Retail activities are however limited, and include a general shop, a post office, a butcher, and a hairdresser. By 2001 the permanent population was 1,326 - a considerable increase of 32% from 1991.

The village is located 10 kilometres north west of Coleraine, just off the A2 route between Coleraine and Limavady. It retains its rail link on the Londonderry to Belfast line. Castlerock has been designated a Large Village in the Settlement Hierarchy in Volume 1 of the Plan.

The village has accommodated substantial house building in the past decade. Due to the scale of recent development, Castlerock’s position in the settlement hierarchy, and the environmental qualities of its setting, the development limit has been tightly drawn around the built up area of the village and will consolidate the existing built form.

The following Table sets out the provision of housing in Castlerock at July 2004.