Northern Area Plan 2016
Strategic Plan Framework: Environment and Conservation Regional Policy Context

The Regional Development Strategy (RDS) is based on a number of guiding principles, one of which is the protection and enhancement of the environment through an approach to development and policy formulation which has the condition of the environment as a central deciding factor. One of the key regional challenges will therefore be to accommodate future development growth while protecting and caring for the environment.

The Department's regional planning policies for the protection of conservation interests are currently set out in PPS 2: Planning and Nature Conservation, and PPS 6: Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage.

The other Departmental regional planning policies relating to the environment, including the protection of rural landscapes and the coast, assessment of environmental effects of proposals and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are currently set out within the Planning Strategy for Rural Northern Ireland (PSRNI).

The Northern Ireland Biodiversity Strategy 2002 endorses the recommendations of the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group as the framework for biodiversity action. The strategy describes the main features of biodiversity in Northern Ireland, identifies the main factors affecting it, and proposes a number of measures to support biodiversity conservation up to 2016.