THE 2002 National Spatial Strategy (NSS) has failed to achieve its objectives mainly because a pattern of excessive and inappropriate zonings on the fringes of almost every town in Ireland undermined the development of its “gateways” and “hubs”.
That’s the principal conclusion of an internal review by the Department of the Environment, Implementing the National Spatial Strategy: 2010 update and outlook, which is to be submitted to the Government shortly, according to Minister of State Ciarán Cuffe.
Mr Cuffe, who has responsibility for planning and sustainable transport, said the growth of NSS-designated cities and towns had been “outstripped by commuter zone growth, not only in Leinster but on the outskirts of other cities around Ireland”.
He said this growth in commuter land in areas that were “half an hour or an hour’s car drive away” from the principal places of employment was “fundamentally unsustainable”.
The update identifies Dublin, Cork and Galway as the most successful gateways and Athlone/Tullamore/Mullingar – the triangular gateway in the midlands, known in shorthand as “ATM” – as well as Dundalk and Limerick/Shannon, as the least successful. It also notes that the sprawl pattern of development has contributed to an increase in car dependence and longer journeys.
“There’s a quality of life issue there – of using the planning system to ensure that people aren’t stuck in cars for half the day”, Mr Cuffe said.
This was producing an “obesegenic” generation of younger people who “as kids in the white heat of the Celtic Tiger boom got put in baby seats in the back of a car and driven to the crèche and then home again”, Mr Cuffe said.
Although the document does not refer specifically to the 2003 “decentralisation” programme, he said it was clear that this had “watered down the NSS” – although he quickly added that “thankfully, the policy has been altered” by the FF-Green Party programme.
Asked about the Government’s 2008 decision to withdraw the €300 million Gateway Innovation Fund, Mr Cuffe said: “I think we have to look at that again. But at a time when every budget line is being squeezed to get the nation back on track, it will be a tough call.”
Many of the existing problems would be addressed by the new Planning Bill, currently at committee stage in the Dáil, and he expected that it would be passed before the summer recess “hopefully without Fine Gael’s wish to abandon its ‘core strategy’ principle”.
