Paul Bradford
Question:23 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Finance the role he envisages his Department will play in developing the National Spatial Strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18099/00]
Written Answers. - National Spatial Strategy.
The Government has mandated the Department of the Environment and Local Government to prepare a national spatial strategy which will translate the broad approach to regional development in the national development plan into a more detailed framework for spatial development in the longer term. Direct responsibility for the national spatial strategy, therefore, resides with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.
In the document entitled "National Spatial Strategy: Scope and Delivery" which was recently published by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and distributed to Members of this House, that Department indicated that the national spatial strategy will identify broad spatial development patterns for all areas of the country and set down indicative policies in relation to the location of industrial development, residential development, services, rural development, tourism and heritage. It will also develop and present a dynamic conception of the Irish urban system, together with its links to rural areas, which recognises and utilises their economic and social interdependence. The strategy will be completed by the end of 2001 and will have a 20 year time horizon.
An interdepartmental steering committee comprising representation from all relevant Departments, including my own Department, has been established to lead and oversee the development of the strategy at policy level. My Department has a major interest in the formulation of the national spatial strategy because of the interaction between it and the evolution of the economy over the longer-term and, in particular, over the period of the national development plan. The national spatial strategy cannot be developed in a vacuum but will need to take account of current and likely future trends in the economy generally. Moreover, the strategy itself will also influence the nature and location of economic activity, a factor which will have implications for economic and budgetary management.
Against this background, the role of my Department in relation to the national spatial strategy will include advising the steering committee on the longer term macroeconomic framework within which the strategy will be articulated and representing to the committee the Department's views on the various issues that are likely to arise as the development of the strategy progresses.
I look forward to my Department actively contributing to the formulation of the national spatial strategy.