City of Sligo

T runner

darealtulip wrote: »

Absolutly nothing wrong with ambition. But to call some place a city and then hope investers will be interested is a strange idea IMO. If nothing changes (and the chamber of commerce for one make sure of that) you can call it all you like but people won't invest.

You need a bit more of a plan then just call it city and hope all will be good.

There is a plan in place called the Gateway Index:

This is a long document but it identifies Sligo as one of 9 "Gateway Cities" which are targetted for Government.


"The National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-13 sets out a framework for the promotion of regional development through investment in the Gateways/Hubs identified under the National Spatial
Strategy (NSS) 2002-20."

This Sligo Champion Article is also descriptive of Sligo's score on the Index.

One of the areas that is rated is the perception of Sligo as a gateway city.
So there is a direct benefir to Sligo for promoting it as a city.

I believe some of the monies for the inner relief road and other work at Carraroe came from Sligo's status as a gateway city.

I these times being a gateway city must be used as a positive. I certainly wouldnt knock the CoCo or anyone else for promoting this and I feel the promotion of Sligo as a city is definately linked to its gateway status which is linked to direct investment.

darealtulip

T runner wrote: »

There is a plan in place called the Gateway Index:

This is a long document but it identifies Sligo as one of 9 "Gateway Cities" which are targetted for Government.


"The National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-13 sets out a framework for the promotion of regional development through investment in the Gateways/Hubs identified under the National Spatial
Strategy (NSS) 2002-20."

This Sligo Champion Article is also descriptive of Sligo's score on the Index.

One of the areas that is rated is the perception of Sligo as a gateway city.
So there is a direct benefir to Sligo for promoting it as a city.

I believe some of the monies for the inner relief road and other work at Carraroe came from Sligo's status as a gateway city.

I these times being a gateway city must be used as a positive. I certainly wouldnt knock the CoCo or anyone else for promoting this and I feel the promotion of Sligo as a city is definately linked to its gateway status which is linked to direct investment.

Don't have time to read the PDF. But surely nobody in Europe will ever see Sligo as a city, so I suppose it's aimed at Irish investers then?

And accoording to the article it can just aswell be called a Gateway town, so why did sligo choose to call it self city?

Really with this population you can't really call yourself a city, not even by Irish standards and certainly not in European standards.

Do I understand it right that Gateway is basicly a development plan?

Love to read the PDF. I study Environmetal issues it will be intesting to read so thanks for that.

T runner

darealtulip wrote: »

Don't have time to read the PDF. But surely nobody in Europe will ever see Sligo as a city, so I suppose it's aimed at Irish investers then?

The original investor is the Irish government-they drew up the gateway plans and have contributed to some infrastructure projects. I guess afterwards when the infrastructure has improved Investors local and foreign would follow. I dont think it being called a city or a town would be a deal breaker for foreign investors.

And accoording to the article it can just aswell be called a Gateway town, so why did sligo choose to call it self city?

The title is "Gateway City". Sligo is one of 9 gateway cities.

Really with this population you can't really call yourself a city, not even by Irish standards and certainly not in European standards.

You can only judge it by Irish standards. (For example Maastricht would be a village in China.)

The idea would be that the population of Sligo would expand to 50,000 which is a city by Irish population standards. Calling it a city seems to be part of promoting the gateway project locally according to that PDF.

Do I understand it right that Gateway is basicly a development plan?

Yes thats right. To develop specific strategic urban centres.

Love to read the PDF. I study Environmetal issues it will be intesting to read so thanks for that

No problem, (I have to read it myself too.)

darealtulip

T runner wrote: »

T. (For example Maastricht would be a village in China.)

The idea would be that the population of Sligo would expand to 50,000 which is a city by Irish population standards. Calling it a city seems to be part of promoting the gateway project locally according to that PDF.



Yes thats right. To develop specific strategic urban centres.



No problem, (I have to read it myself too.)

Maastricht is a town in Dutch standards (even though people from Maastricht might tell you it is a city). Holland doesn't have big cities in european context.

50.000!? that's almost triple the size!

Deffo need to read that PDF. Wonder how they thought that one up.

ddoom

And here lays the crux of the issue. I have viewed these documents and although am willing to correction have not found the term “Gateway City” in the documents. The nearest is “Gateway city/town” which is “Gateway” City or Town.

The term is “Gateway” not “Gateway City” and this was used in conjunction with the words City, Town, Urban Area.

Example extract from the Irish National Spatial Strategy

“Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk as gateways will be supported by Monaghan and Cavan as hubs.”

You can see that the contentious word “City” is absent.

So calling Sligo a Gateway City is something that was made up by taking the Irish National Spatial Strategy term and twisting it to suit an aspiration. Now please do not take me up wrong, I think that having an aspiration is good but in the past 30 years I have seen Sligo try to improve and make a hames of it time after time. There are many examples which I will not go into here.

I am from Sligo and proud of it, but I despair at what has being happening in my home town over the past 30+ years as it continues to be driven by either greed or incompetence.

T runner

ddoom wrote: »

And here lays the crux of the issue. I have viewed these documents and although am willing to correction have not found the term “Gateway City” in the documents. The nearest is “Gateway city/town” which is “Gateway” City or Town.

The term is “Gateway” not “Gateway City” and this was used in conjunction with the words City, Town, Urban Area.

Example extract from the Irish National Spatial Strategy

“Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk as gateways will be supported by Monaghan and Cavan as hubs.”

You can see that the contentious word “City” is absent.

So calling Sligo a Gateway City is something that was made up by taking the Irish National Spatial Strategy term and twisting it to suit an aspiration. Now please do not take me up wrong, I think that having an aspiration is good but in the past 30 years I have seen Sligo try to improve and make a hames of it time after time. There are many examples which I will not go into here.

I am from Sligo and proud of it, but I despair at what has being happening in my home town over the past 30+ years as it continues to be driven by either greed or incompetence.

the fact that dynamic urban centres require a distinctive city core;

This is one of the features that a Gateway should possess as indicated early in the Gateway index report.

I dont feel that Sligo's participation in the Gateway project is driven by greed or incompetence.

Negitivity, in my opinion, has been a huge monkey on the back of Sligo's progress.