While existing and future settlement patterns were an important factor in framing the investment programmes in the areas of roads and water infrastructure under the national development plan, the Government's policies under the plan go much further than that. It is a fundamental aim of the plan to achieve more geographically balanced economic progress and regional development, through a concerted effort to spread development more evenly throughout the regions, ease the pressure in the greater Dublin area, tackle urban and rural poverty and promote closer integration of physical and economic planning than has ever been the case previously. Investment in roads and water services projects will take full account of regional development policy as well as existing needs.
As far as major investment in roads is concerned, settlement patterns as a major determinant of traffic flows and volumes, are a significant influence on road development needs and are, accordingly, reflected in the road development strategy outlined in the plan. More specifically, the strategic planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area were taken into account in the preparation of the national development plan. Settlement patterns are also taken into account in the planning and design of individual road development schemes.
With regard to water and waste water projects, the investment predicated in the national development plan is based on our obligations under EU Directives, assessments of needs supplied by the local authorities, discussions with the IDA, and other economic forecasts and projections. Local authority assessments, initiated in October 1998, were required to have regard to the provisions of development plans and any relevant strategic regional planning guidelines.
The Government has also mandated my Department to prepare a national spatial strategy which will translate the overall approach to regional development set out in the national development plan into a more detailed blueprint for spatial development in Ireland over the period up to the year 2020.
Additional Information
This strategy will take two years to prepare, will identify spatial development patterns and will set down indicative proposals for the location of industrial, commercial and residential development, rural development, tourism, culture and heritage, including the necessary infrastructure to support these proposals. Investment in infrastructure cannot await the completion of the spatial strategy. The enhanced level of investment in roads and water services provided for under the NDP will commence immediately on the basis of the priorities I have already outlined.