The Ards and Down Area Plan 2015 (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), is a development plan prepared by the Planning Service, an Agency within the Department of the Environment, (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Department’) under Part III of the Planning (NI) Order 1991. The Plan will provide the broad land use planning framework for the Plan area until 2015. It applies regional policies at the local level and is prepared in the context of the Regional Development Strategy, (hereinafter referred to as the RDS), published by the Department for Regional Development, (hereinafter referred to as DRD), in December 1998. The RDS sets out a dynamic.
