This Operational Programme in devising its development strategy and proposed interventions has also taken account of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS). The NSS was adopted by the Government in 2002 and provides a twenty-year planning framework aimed at achieving a better balance of social, economic and physical development and population growth across the regions. The NSS represents an important new policy development and defines a long-term spatial development strategy, to which other national policies should adhere. The NSS calls in particular for a focussing of investment and growth potential around a network of nine competitive gateways, supported by an additional nine hub towns as well as other large towns in order to drive the development of their wider regions.
The NSS recognises the divergent levels of economic growth between and within the BMW and S&E Regions. It underlines the importance of balanced regional development as a policy priority and proposes that the principal way of addressing this is to harness the development potential of key gateways and hubs, which will help generate critical mass in the regional economies. It states that “a range of gateways and hubs on an arc reaching from Waterford to Derry must become a primary driver of more balanced regional development”. The development of these urban centres is intrinsically linked to the development of the surrounding hinterlands.
The NSS sees population growth as a key asset which can be harnessed in order to achieve balanced regional development. Balanced regional development will depend on building strong urban structures to accommodate this population growth right across the country.
There are five designated Gateways in the BMW Region, as defined by the NSS:
Letterkenny
Sligo
Galway
Dundalk
The Midlands Gateway of Athlone, Mullingar and Tullamore
The NSS underlines the importance of the Gateways as drivers for regional growth, recognising that this growth is mainly generated by urban centres. It stresses the importance of enhancing the role of the Gateways in regional areas in order to provide balanced growth within Ireland. This forms the basis for the inclusion of an urban development priority in the BMW Regional OP priority in order to strengthen the capacity of the designated growth centres in the BMW region to drive the region’s competitiveness growth and to counterbalance the spatial imbalances that currently exist in the region.
Figure 2.1: National Spatial Strategy- Gateways and Hubs
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Source: National Spatial Strategy, 2002
Note 15 Department of the Environment and Local Government (2002) The National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020: People, Places and Potential http://www.irishspatialstrategy.ie/
