Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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502. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if a new national spatial strategy is being drafted; if so, the timeframe for such a process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43947/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The 2002 National Spatial Strategy(NSS) was Ireland’s first national strategic spatial planning framework. It aimed to provide the spatial vision and principles to achieve a better balance of social, economic and physical development and population growth between regions through the co-ordinated development of nine gateway cities and towns, and nine hub towns, together with complementary policies to activate the potential for lasting economic development in their hinterlands and wider regions.

While the existing NSS remains in place and having regard to the significantly changed economic circumstances that the country now faces, the Government recently approved the commencement of the preparation of a new National Planning Framework as a successor to the NSS. Arrangements in this regard will now be put in place and this will be a significant area of activity during 2015.