Northern Area Plan 2016
Strategic Plan Framework: Open Space, Sport and Outdoor Recreation

Recreational facilities include active recreation and open space areas such as children’s play areas, playing pitches and major sports facilities. They include passive recreation and open space areas which range from small landscaped amenity spaces, village greens, landscape corridors and formal parks to major countryside open spaces. The latter include country and forest parks that attract people from a wide area.

The provision of recreational facilities within the Plan area is the statutory responsibility of the four Councils. However, a large range of bodies such as the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), the Forest Service, Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), schools, National Trust, local sports clubs and other voluntary organisations also provide a variety of publicly accessible recreation facilities, including water-based, and open space.