The development of both the Regional Development Strategy and the Regional Transportation
Strategy involved extensive consultation exercises. Involvement of interested parties and the general
public is critical to understanding the key issues. The preparation of the Belfast Metropolitan Area
Plan involves a statutory consultation process that includes transport issues, as well as other broader
planning issues such as housing, employment creation, greenbelt and the countryside and recreation and
open space. A series of public consultation meetings took place across the six council areas during
the period January to March 2002. These weeks gave the public time to put forward their views on the
BMAP issues, including transport. The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 Issues Paper was published
in December 2001 to inform this consultation.
In addition to the BMAP
consultation process, specific consultation mechanisms also formed an intrinsic part of the BMTP study.
The aim of consultation was to ensure that the views of a wide range of stakeholders were taken into
account in formulating the Plan, and through stakeholder participation in the Plan development process,
the consultation exercise has sought to ensure that the final Plan has a high degree of support.
Consultation
has been undertaken at each stage of the Plan development process. A number of different consultation
mechanisms have been employed as follows:
- The formulation of Reference
Groups for consultation on Problems and Issues (local feedback is available by clicking on the links
to the right);
- The formulation of a Key Stakeholder Group with consultation
meetings on four occasions during the Plan development process;
- Conducting
two rounds of Focus Groups to obtain the views of those groups that were not represented within the
Reference Groups and the Key Stakeholder Group;
- Holding a number of
consultation meetings in conjunction with BMAP with members of each of the six District Councils in
the BMA; and
- Holding a Working Conference in February 2003 presenting
a draft transport plan to delegates drawn from the Reference Groups, the Key Stakeholder Group and the
District Councils.
