Appendices - Armagh City and District Council

STAGE ONE REPORT
The Plan promotes new shopping facilities that will diversify rather than increase the offering
within the central area, with any development being encouraged to locate in the commercial
area, as defined on the Central Area Strategy Map.
Office developments will be assessed on their “locational merits” though they will generally be
permitted within the majority of the central area, discounting certain areas with established
other uses.
Housing is also promoted in the central area as residential uses are viewed as preserving the
vitality of city centres. It is stated that this will involve “new-build schemes within, for example
comprehensive development areas and derelict and underused backland areas, as well as
rehabilitation and refurbishment schemes”.
2.2.2 Armagh Area Plan 2018
The Planning Service is currently undertaking preparations for a new Area Plan for Armagh
which will guide the development and conservation of the Armagh City and District Council
area over its timescale. In order to derive an effective Area Plan a number of reports have
been produced and the Planning Service has consulted with a range of statutory agencies.
The following reports are each a part of the overall consultation.
Issues Paper
The purpose of an Issues Paper is to engender debate on topics that will inform the nature of
the Draft Plan. These documents outline a number of strategic, general and local
policies/proposals for which comments are sought. Representations are also permitted on
topics not covered in the initial Issues Paper publication.
This stage of the Area Plan process has a statutory 14 week consultation period during which
an independent assessor helps to guide the process and presents their findings in a report.
The Issues Paper may also include a report outlining the results of the initial research and
consultation undertaken. Subsequently, additional consultation and research permits the
formulation of the Draft Area Plan.
The Armagh Area Plan 2018: Issues Paper, published in March 2004, was produced in order
to engender debate around a number of issues of strategic significance impacting upon the
nature of the Draft Plan. Many of these relate directly to Armagh City Centre.
The first of these is the accommodation of settlement growth and new development in built-up
areas which the Issues Paper notes will be assessed through urban capacity studies (a
component of the Plan-making process). Indeed, the Paper notes that the Plan will encourage
more sustainable forms of development through policies such as increased densities of urban
housing.
The Issues Paper notes that Housing should be allocated in accordance with the prevailing
regional policy context and that a number of assessments suggested in the RDS should be
applied to each of the relevant settlements, including Armagh. In particular, the Issues Paper
states that Armagh’s relatively low share of the district population should be increased to meet
the RDS’s policy of promoting ‘district town’s’ multi-functional roles. The preliminary housing
growth allocation for Armagh City has therefore been at 2000 units.
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