Ards Borough Council

We were appointed to provide Ards Borough Council with assistance and guidance in relation to two key public consultation planning documents of major importance to the Borough, Draft Planning Policy Statement 21 and the proposed Reform of the Planning System.

Our Involvement

Draft Planning Policy Statement 21 was issued for Public Consultation in November 2008. We facilitated a workshop for Council Officials and Elected Representatives to explain the policies, discuss their pros and cons and summarise the Council’s corporate view and recommendations to DOE Planning Service.

The Review of Public Administration involved quite a significant set of proposals to reform the Planning System. The reforms had the potential to have a wide ranging impact on how Planning functions were delivered, potentially moving from Central Government to Local Government.

The proposals also sought to overhaul the entirety of the planning process, ranging from streamlining the Development Plan and Development Management System to how appeals and enforcement cases should be administered.

We prepared a ‘Focus Report’, carried out a presentation to Full Council, facilitated discussion between Council officials and Elected Representatives and finalised a detailed Corporate response to the DoE’s Planning policy team.