Public Engagement

Central to the development of this updated Town Centre Investment Plan has been the engagement of the public (people who use the Larne Town Centre for a range of reasons but largely for retail, accessing services, as a working environment or as a place to meet and socialize), people who own and manage retail and service businesses and people with a remit and responsibility for promoting and regenerating the town.

The level of public engagement informing and directing this updated Larne Town Centre Investment Plan was: Engagement: Public & Retailers/Traders

21%

79%

Public Engagement Retailers and Traders Engagement

The total extent of public engagement with the process to update the Larne Investment Plan and direct the Town Centre Strategy was 1,385 citizens and traders/retailers.1 In addition, there was a significant social media footprint across both Twitter and Facebook social media platforms, as follows:

Social Media Engagement

Twitter Engagements 404

Twitter Impressions

Facebook Engagements 803

Facebook Reach 10,899

23,847

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000

This level of engagement ensures that the updated Investment Plan and supporting Town Centre Strategy have been developed with the benefit of the current experience and aspirations of the key stakeholders in Larne Town Centre. Their input has provided direction on the vision for the Town Centre and on ‘what’ and ‘where’ public investment should focus.

1833 1859

3 Larne — its Development Journey

The history of the development of Larne Town helps to set the context for this Investment Plan which will continue the regeneration and development of this important coastal town in Mid and East Antrim Borough.

Larne owes much of its success to its strategic coastal location; the natural harbour providing the origins of the town, and its development into a port during the industrial revolution providing catalyst for growth and prosperity. The port gave rise to rail and road connections which further strengthened Larne’s strategic role as a centre for industry and commerce, as well as tourism.

Larne has a unique geography. It is set at the tip of the western headland, opposite the eastern headland of Islandmagee. Together these headlands form a narrow channel to Larne Lough; a largely enclosed body of tidal water. The town sits on a partly natural, and partly reclaimed, coastal shelf, from which the land rises up to the hills and ridges. These surround the coast and set it in a basin. Expansive views extend out eastwards across the Irish Sea towards Scotland. Further around the coast, there are many examples of dramatic coastal scenery including the famous Giant’s Causeway and Gobbins Path.

The relative shelter and deep water of Larne Lough make it a natural harbour. Thousands of years ago it was used to harbour fishing boats and this gradually led to the establishment of Larne as a fishing village. Fishing was the main industry in the area up until the 18thCentury when the harbour developed into a port for trade and emigration.

1891 1925 1990

The town centre itself developed along a tight sequence of streets, each with a strong east to west orientation across the natural north to south fall of the land. These streets were inter-connected by a series of narrow lanes. The central streets developed as the centre of commerce with trade coming from the local working population as well as travelling visitors. The architecture of the town presents a number of notable buildings such as St. Cedma’s Church, Larne Town Hall and the Carnige Library.

In the latter part of the 19th Century James Chaine promoted the first commercial ferry connections between Scotland and Ireland which facilitated further growth and established Larne as a centre for industrial development. More latterly, the Larne - Stranraer crossing was the first in the world to use drive-on, drive-off cargo boats which significantly improved efficiency.

Along with the ferry boats, the industrial revolution also arrived in Larne in the latter part of the 19th Century with the establishment of large-scale industries such as Brown’s Weaving Factory, Aluminium Works, Eccles Dyeworks, Acetylene Works, Picken’s Shipbuilding Works and Kane’s Engineering Foundry. Larne provided an ideal situation for such industries on account of its coastal location; important both for the export and import of goods and materials, as well the water resource necessary for the industrial processes. Furthermore, the establishment of the rail link to Carrickfergus, and later Belfast, further strengthened Larne’s industrial capacity.

In the 19th Century Larne also evolved as a centre for Tourism. It is reputed to be the home of tourism on account of local entrepreneur Henry McNeill being one of the first to set up guided tours, taking visitors for day trips up the coast and into the glens. With the good connections into the town that the ferry, rail and road links brought, combined with the attraction of County Antrim’s exceptional coastal scenery, Larne presented an obvious location for tourism. Hotels developed within the town centre, which itself become something of a resort, with local businesses benefitting from the passing trade.

Larne’s status as a centre for industry saw it become the first settlement in Northern Ireland to get electric light in 1891. It has since developed as a nationally important centre for energy with Ballylumford Power Station supplying 80% of the province’s power. More recently Larne has become home to a number of international renewable energy companies; namely RES and B9, as well as local business Newmills Hydro Generation Ltd.