The Department for Infrastructure has scheduled the first public consultation on the Eastern Transport Plan 2035 to begin on Monday 26th October 2026. This initial phase concerns Belfast city centre and the wider metropolitan area. The department’s official engagement timetable runs until 25th January 2027.
The proposals matter well beyond the layout of roads. They will help shape decisions about walking, cycling, public transport and necessary vehicle access as Belfast and its surrounding council areas plan for new homes, workplaces and services. This is consultation on draft proposals, not a set of approved road schemes.
For planning professionals and landowners, I would read the Eastern Transport Plan alongside emerging local development policies, rather than treat it as a separate transport exercise. The choices made about access and movement can affect where development works and what supporting infrastructure is eventually needed.
Who does the Eastern Transport Plan cover?
The Eastern Transport Plan is intended to cover five council areas: Belfast City; Antrim and Newtownabbey; Ards and North Down; Lisburn and Castlereagh; and Mid and East Antrim. However, the current engagement concerns Belfast city centre and the wider Belfast metropolitan area. It should not be described as a finished detailed scheme for every part of those five districts.
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) says the Eastern Transport Plan (ETP) will ultimately replace the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan 2015. It is being developed in stages because the councils are at different points in preparing their Local Development Plans. The Belfast phase has been brought forward to align with progress on that city’s emerging Local Policies Plan.
The distinction between a transport plan and a council’s Local Development Plan is important. A transport plan can guide proposed improvements and investment priorities, while a Local Development Plan sets out spatial planning policies and land-use allocations through its own statutory process. Neither an emerging transport proposal nor an engagement response grants planning permission.
A different approach to transport and land use
The department describes a shift from predicting traffic demand and expanding road capacity towards a method it calls vision and validate. Rather than assuming future car journeys must all be accommodated in the same way, it starts with intended outcomes for places and tests how the transport network could help achieve them.
In practical terms, the Eastern Transport Plan is concerned with walking, wheeling, cycling, public transport and reducing journeys that could reasonably be made in other ways. DfI also identifies the importance of economic growth, heritage, air quality and access to services. That brings transport and land use into direct contact.
Those ambitions should not be mistaken for a blanket restriction on driving. In its official frequently asked questions, DfI states: The ETP does not seek to eliminate car use
. The department says necessary car journeys and freight access remain part of a functioning multimodal network, particularly where alternatives are unsafe, unavailable or unsuitable.
Pedestrian priority and accessibility in Belfast
The department’s frequently asked questions identify wider pedestrian priority and improved walking and cycling routes in Belfast city centre among the proposals under consideration. They also make clear that the location and design of specific changes must balance access for residents, businesses, deliveries, freight and people with mobility needs.
Accessibility deserves particular scrutiny. DfI acknowledges that some Blue Badge spaces could be removed from places where vehicle access is restricted, while saying provision should be improved close to those areas and that the overall number of spaces is intended to increase. That is an intention in the draft approach, not a verified final parking layout.
Likewise, the plan refers to developing a more comprehensive active travel network while recognising limited road space. A suitable scheme for one route may not be suitable for another. Businesses should look at loading, servicing and customer access, while residents should consider whether proposed alternatives are practical at different times of day.
The Eastern Transport Plan also takes account of freight and seeks links between future housing and employment growth. Its current metropolitan proposals should therefore be considered as part of a wider network, rather than assessed solely by their effect on a single street.
Why the plan matters to development proposals
The connection to Local Development Plans is where this becomes especially relevant to planning applications. A transport improvement might help unlock a proposed housing allocation, but the existence of a draft proposal does not prove that an infrastructure commitment has been funded or delivered. Similarly, an untested aspiration to shift travel modes is not a substitute for site-specific accessibility evidence.
Applicants considering city-centre regeneration, higher-density housing or employment uses should check the emerging routes, pedestrian connections and public transport assumptions, then distinguish those proposals from current adopted policies and operational conditions. I would expect a robust transport assessment to state clearly what is existing, what is committed and what remains aspirational.
Planning law and policy differ across the UK. Our guide to planning in Northern Ireland explains the distinct local-council and departmental responsibilities, including why English planning procedures must not simply be imported into a Northern Ireland case.
The Department’s guidance says the Eastern Transport Plan is designed around an integrated approach to transport and land-use planning. That is a useful strategic direction, but the detailed impact on an individual development still depends on the applicable policies, supporting evidence and any subsequent statutory decisions.
Funding and statutory decisions are still to come
Funding is another necessary qualification. The department says it cannot secure funding through to 2035 under the current budget arrangements. It expects to identify a package of measures and develop phasing and implementation arrangements as resources become available. The consultation therefore should not be reported as a funded construction programme.
Nor does the opening of engagement authorise pedestrianisation or alterations to individual roads. DfI says specific proposals will remain subject to further detailed design work, appropriate statutory procedures and, where required, additional local consultation. The current exercise is about shaping the emerging plan.
This matters when assessing deliverability. A land promoter may reasonably refer to a proposed link or improved public transport route as an emerging opportunity, but should not present it as an existing infrastructure asset or a guaranteed mitigation measure. The same care is needed when discussing revised traffic arrangements and accessibility for disabled users.
How to respond before 25th January 2027
The official Eastern Transport Plan engagement page gives the scheduled consultation period as 26th October 2026 to 25th January 2027. It identifies Belfast city centre and the wider metropolitan area as the first phase. Consultees should check the live page for the survey and draft documents, rather than assume every phase of the wider five-council plan is open at once.
For useful representations, I would focus on a specific route, place or access problem and explain the consequences for land use, inclusion, businesses or residents. Evidence of trips, servicing requirements, realistic alternatives and barriers faced by people with mobility impairments will generally be more useful than a blanket statement for or against transport change.
Read the DfI project overview and its official FAQs alongside the engagement material. The Eastern Transport Plan may become an important influence on development and infrastructure decisions through to 2035, but this is the point to challenge and refine its proposals, not to treat them as settled policy.
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