Climate & Sustainability Screening - Performance Improvement Plan 2025-26
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has a statutory duty to promote sustainable development.
This includes screening all proposals, investments, and decisions.
This screening tool is designed to help departments consider the likely sustainability impacts of their proposed decisions, following the five pillars of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, of People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace and Partnership.
The Council must lead by example by considering wellbeing and sustainability in everything that it does.
By embedding the principles of sustainability, wellbeing and climate justice across decision making processes, this organisation aims to enable our people and planet to thrive.
The questions are designed so that environmental and social parameters are considered alongside each other, to provide a wider view of the decision-making process.
The screening assessment will be used to evidence how decisions will provide residents with environmental as well as social benefits, and how any adverse effects will be reduced.
It aims to focus the limited resources of our decision-making structures onto the most relevant issues, which now formally include the environment and our impact on it.
The related guidance should be read in advance. It provides advice on how to carry out a sustainability screening exercise.
Detailed information about the Section 25 duty and what it means in practice is available on the DAERA website.
The screening tool has 4 sections to complete.
These are:
Section 1: Defining the activity subject to Section 25 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006.
| 1A. Name of the service area. |
- Citizen Focus - Policy and Performance.
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| 1B. Please provide a short title, which describes the activity being undertaken that is subject to Sustainability Screening through the Mid and East Antrim Climate and Sustainability Policy. |
- Performance Improvement Plan 2025/26.
- Under the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014, councils have a duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of their functions.
- Improvement means an activity that enhances the sustainable quality of life and environment for ratepayers and communities.
- Councils must set Improvement Objectives each year.
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| 1C. Please provide details of the aims and/or objectives of the proposal. |
Our Improvement Objectives for 2025/26 are:
- People: We will help to prevent violence against women and girls.
- Place: We will help boost our local economy and town centres.
- Planet: We will all play our part in making Mid and East Antrim a great place to live in and visit.
- These objectives are framed to bring about improvement in all of the Aspects of Improvement detailed within the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 of Strategic Effectiveness, Service Quality, Service Availability, Fairness, Sustainability, Efficiency, and Innovation.
- Our Objectives also include the statutory indicators and standards, specified by the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, in relation to Jobs, Planning, and Waste.
- Due to high levels of uncertainty, the actions described within the plan are subject to the availability of funding and finance throughout the year.
Improvement Objective 1: People - We will help to prevent violence against women and girls.
What you will see:
- Roll out of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Change Fund.
- An awareness and training programme to ensure everyone understands what violence against women and girls is, including its root causes, and plays an active role in preventing it.
- Our organisation will know how to recognise and respond to domestic violence and abuse.
How we will measure improvement:
- The Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Change Fund delivered by 31/3/26.
- An Ending Violence Against Women and Girls awareness and training programme delivered by 31/3/26.
- Platinum level Workplace Charter on Domestic Violence by 31/3/26.
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Ending violence against women and girls
- Safer communities
- Community Plan:
- Prioritising the most vulnerable
- Community safety and cohesion
- Progress in education and employment
- Corporate Plan:
- Aspect of Improvement:
Improvement Objective 2: Place - We will help boost our local economy and town centres.
What you will see:
- The submission of the Mid and East Antrim Local Economic Partnership Action Plan.
- A range of events within our town centres to boost footfall and support our local businesses.
- Installation of town centre information notice boards to improve communication and awareness of opportunities.
- Jobs promoted through business start-up interventions.
- An effective and efficient Planning Service.
How we will measure improvement:
- The submission of an agreed action plan for the Mid and East Antrim Local Economic Partnership, in line with the Regional Balance Fund Project Guidelines, by 31/3/26.
- 15 events or activities held within Ballymena, Carrickfergus, and Larne town centres, by 31/3/26.
- The installation of 3 information notice boards in Ballymena and Carrickfergus town centres, by 30/6/25. (A notice board is already in place in Larne town centre).
- 50 jobs promoted through business start-up interventions, by 31/3/26.
- A processing time for major planning applications within an average of 30 weeks by 31/3/26.
- A processing time for local planning applications within an average of 15 weeks by 31/3/26.
- At least 70% of Planning enforcement cases concluded within 39 weeks by 31/3/26.
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy
- Community Plan:
- Progress in education and employment
- Tourism and the economy
- Community safety and cohesion
- Good health and wellbeing
- Corporate Plan:
- Aspect of Improvement:
- Service availability
- Strategic effectiveness
- Innovation
Improvement Objective 3: Planet – We will all play our part in making Mid and East Antrim a great place to live in and visit.
What you will see:
- A communications campaign to encourage everyone to play a part in making Mid and East Antrim cleaner, safer, and more attractive.
- Simplified recycling.
How we will measure improvement:
- The development of a communications campaign to help people to play their part in looking after Mid and East Antrim, by 31/3/26.
- The launch of a fully co-mingled dry recycling collection service by 1/11/26.
- At least 50% of household waste collected sent for recycling by 31/3/26.
- A maximum of 16,387 tonnes of biodegradable collected municipal waste sent to landfill by 31/3/26.
- Less than 79,500 tonnes collected municipal waste arisings by 31/3/26.
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Protecting Lough Neagh and the environment
- Community Plan:
- Good health and wellbeing
- Community safety and cohesion
- Tourism and the economy
- Valuing our environment
- Corporate Plan:
- People
- Place
- Planet
- Performance
- Aspect of Improvement:
- Service quality
- Efficiency
- Innovation
- Sustainability
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