Town Centre Health Check
The Town Centre Health Check has been prepared by the Local Development Plan Team for the 3 main towns of Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne and the 5 small towns of Ahoghill, Broughshane, Cullybackey, Portglenone and Whitehead, using survey information gathered in March 2024.
The main towns and small towns form the top 2 tiers of the Retail Hierarchy as set out in the Local Development Plan – Plan Strategy 2030.
This 2024 report is the second report produced by the Council Planning Department relating to the health of town centres within the Plan Area.
It builds upon the ‘Town Centre Assessment ‘chapter (3.0) of Retail and Commercial Leisure Need & Capacity Study produced by Nexus Planning in conjunction with the Local Development Plan team.
Section 3.0 included performances of Ballymena, Carrickfergus and Larne town centres during March and April 2018 against a range of health check indicators set out in the SPPS.
The health check indicators are explained in paragraph 3.9, (page 24) of the Retail and Commercial Leisure Need and Capacity Study and the ‘Health Check Assessment’ for Ballymena is on pages 27-31.
Carrickfergus Health Check data pages 39-43 while Larne’s data is on pages 51-54.
Town centre health checks were not carried out for the 5 small towns in the Retail and Commercial Leisure Need & Capacity Study, as they were previously designated as villages in their respective Area Plans.
The report will be used to inform judgments on new and reviewed town centre boundaries designated through the LDP - Local Policies Plan.