The plan will shape the future development of greater Belfast

The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan contains proposals for housing, trade, transport and infrastructure for an area of more than 650,000 people.

The plan, which has cost �3m to draw up, embraces two cities, eight towns and 76 smaller settlements.

It includes plans for 63,000 new homes over the next 10 years, 70% of which will be on "brownfield sites".

It also wants to see the promotion of Belfast as the leading shopping centre in the region, meaning some curbs on out-of-town shopping.

'Not ambitious enough'

The plan sets aside 480 hectares of land for employment and industrial use.

It also sets out a framework for the development of the Titanic quarter at Belfast docks.

The transport plan provides for new park and ride facilities at Sandyknowes, Sprucefield and Carryduff.

It also wants 14 new bus corridors and the creation of a new rapid transport system towards Newtownards.

The BMAP covers the city of Belfast and also the administrative districts of Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Lisburn, Newtonabbey and North Down.

It is two years late getting to this stage and it is only at the draft stage John Simpson Economist

It affects almost 40% of the Northern Ireland population.

Launching the plan, the environment minister Angela Smith said it was a "milestone".

She said: "It is really about planning for the future.

"Whether there is the housing, whether there is the commercial development, where areas will remain green belt areas."

She said the aim was economic growth but in a sustainable way which maintains the beauty of Northern Ireland.

Economist John Simpson said the document was "not ambitious enough".

He said: "It is two years late getting to this stage and it is only at the draft stage.

"In order to release the development that is needed in the whole of Belfast area, we need a plan that liberates faster development rather than restrains it or frustrates it."

'Public transport'

He said planners have too much of a reputation for restricting development.

Tom Woolley, professor of architecture at Queen's University, said "sustainability" had not been built into the plan.

He said the new houses needed to be built to a high ecological standard.

"The people who are developing this kind of home have not been consulted," he said.

Mr Woolley said that more public transport was needed.

"I suspect that when an assembly comes back in the near future, they will have to take a long hard look at all this and maybe ask for a whole lot more work to be done," he said.

Mr Simpson warned that just because there was provision for 63,000 houses and public transport improvements did not mean it would happen.