THE Northern Ireland Planning Service has announced new guidelines designed to protect town centres from the effects of the growing number of out of town shopping centres.

The new document said developers may in future be asked to contribute to improvements in the local public transport system in order to reduce traffic and pollution.

The assistant director for the Planning Service, Mr Denis Glass, said that if there was a plan for a significant development in an area, he would look first of all to locate them in the town centre.

"If there is no space available we will then look to the edge of the town, and only then to the possibility of out of town centres," Mr Glass said.

The document follows a large number of applications for edge of town and out of town centres in the North by the British retailers, Tesco and Sainsbury, who are planning to open up to a dozen stores between them.