45126-Invest. Qual-No111

●Infrastructure, Public Utilities and Spatial DevelopmentIt should provide an implementation framework to be led by theDepartment of the Environment and Local Government, butencompassing a wide range of public agencies within the overallframework.In line with its earlier work on national and rural development, theCouncil emphasises that a successful regional and settlementstrategy will be of benefit to all areas and interests. Experienceshows that a zero-sum view of spatial development, in whichprogress in one area is seen as a loss to other areas, is not onlydivisive but also short-sighted, since it is at odds with the dynamicof regional development. Consequently, it argues that spatialstrategy that meets the requirements listed above should not be seenas creating winners and losers.The NSS should be seen as a framework document and an overallstrategy under which other public sector policies and programmesshould be tailored and with which they should be consistent. TheNSS seeks to promote certain strategically located places as part ofan all-Ireland network which will energise the potential of bothurban and rural areas. It seeks to do this through the strengtheningof existing gateways, almost all of which were in the Southern andEastern region, (Galway in the BMW region) combined with astrengthening of the pivotal international role played by Dublin, andby establishing four new national gateways in the Border, Midlandand Western region. In addition, the NSS identifies nine strategicallylocated medium sized hubs which will support and besupported by the gateways and link out to wider rural areas.The NSS encompasses a long-term horizon of nearly 20 years andits importance, and strategic nature, should be considered in thatregard. The Council emphasises the need for the NSS to besupplemented and supported by regional planning guidelines, whichshould draw on relevant local plans and strategies such as City andCounty Development Board strategies.The NSS seeks to adopt a framework of polycentric developmentacross Ireland, opposing the concentration and critical mass that hasdeveloped along the Eastern seaboard. It is more than simply a447