News

PURPLE President Mrs Helyn Clack was a guest speaker and panellist at an event which took place recently (Monday February 19^th) in Brussels, co-organised by the Committee of the Regions and the Rurality-Environment-Development network (RED).

The event focused on how integrated development of rural areas might most effectively be financed in the future. Speakers from three Directorate Generals of the European Commission each set out details of work being done in their respective parts of the organisation to help ensure that funding under the cohesion policy programmes for 2020 onwards might best be made reach rural parts of Europe.

In Mrs Clack's address she outlined the nature of peri-urban areas and argued that they present an obvious test bed for a smarter and more place-centred approach to funding in the future. Insisting on the place-first approach, Mrs Clack explained that only by returning the territorial dimension to the centre of our thinking will we be in a position to design, and subsequently to manage, funding schemes that genuinely reflect the priorities, challenges and opportunities of different localities across Europe.

There is a universal desire to see simplification of funding regimes but Mrs Clark explained that territories are not always simple and in that sense, complexity is, to a degree, inevitable. That complexity however should not serve as an obstacle to those who we wish to access funding.

Any crude distinction between urban and rural and any failure to recognise that in parts of Europe these two territory types coexist and coincide is to do a disservice to those whom we ultimately hope will benefit from funding interventions.

Mrs Clack was keen to emphasise that in peri-urban areas in particular, expertise in devising funding regimes that work already exists. She offered two pertinent examples from PURPLE member regions - giving outline details of work underway during the 2014-20 programme in both Brandenburg and South Moravia. Each approach clearly demonstrates the benefit of adopting a methodology where a consideration of the place in which funding is to be invested comes at the beginning of the thought and design process. Both examples demonstrate how such an approach makes it possible to then develop the necessary governance and programme management arrangements necessary to make a success of integrated funding regimes.

Mrs Clack invited those present to benefit from the experience of peri-urban Europe and to ensure that the place-first approach is written into guidance for forthcoming finance programmes and their management at all levels - European, national and regional/local.

The second project partnership meeting took place 27 February to 2 March 2018 in Lisbon. Twenty-two of the twenty-four project partners were represented with Vincent O'Connell and Geraldine Mateu attending on behalf of PURPLE. Those present were given an update on progress to date on Work Package 1 led by Aberystwyth University where a conceptual framework for the project has been developed. There was also a discussion around Work Package 2 which will draw together existing secondary data on topics relevant to the project.

The eleven European locations where project case studies are to be developed – Living Labs – have each been invited to opt into three of five different 'communities of practice'. This has been done in an attempt to cluster the case studies around particular topics of shared interest. The second part of day 1 and first part of day 2 were dedicated to parallel workshop sessions about these five topic areas:

• Public infrastructure and social services
• Cultural connections
• Ecosystem services
• New business models and labour markets
• Sustainable food systems

PURPLE's principal contribution came in the form of a workshop regarding Work Package 6 of the project which focusses upon the policy dimension of rural-urban linkages and their governance systems. Delegates were able to learn about the proposed structure and content of the ROBUST Policy Hub. They were also talked through details of a number of different policy and planning debates underway at the EU level with some details given on the ways in which the ROBUST project might be able to contribute to these debates. PURPLE's presentation slides can be seen here.

There was also some discussion around the possibility of organising a ROBUST-related event within the framework of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2018. Delegates agreed on the value of sessions with a policy focus as part of future partnership meetings.

On 19 March 2018 President Mrs Helyn Clack will be speaking on behalf of PURPLE at a conference in Brussels co-organised by the NAT Commission of the European Committee of the Regions and the Rurality-Environment-Development network (member and coordinator of the European Countryside Movement).

Entitled “Financing the integrated development of rural areas - A goal that lies at the heart of the need for social, economic and territorial cohesion: the EU budget in perspective” this conference will focus on the future financing of rural development to support the European Rural Agenda. Mrs Clack’s intervention on ‘funding solutions for balanced rural development - the peri-urban dimension’- will be part of the afternoon panel session “How can the principle of cross-funding lead to a cross-funding initiative for rural development?”.

For registration and the latest version of the agenda please visit the Committee of the Regions website at:http://cor.europa.eu/en/events/Pages/Funding-of-the-rural-development-policy.aspx

The co-organisers of the European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) - the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, and the European Committee of the Regions - have published an illustrated website which gives a glimpse of the 15th European Week of Regions and Cities.

Designed for those who participated and those who could not be there this website reports on most of the 137 workshops and events held between 9 and 12 October 2017 and includes special features; conclusions and evaluation pages.

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement EU Cohesion Policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.

The EWRC 2017 brought together over 200 regions and cities from all over Europe, and more than 6 000 participants and 830 speakers.

The main page of the website can be accessed here.

The page of the EWRC 2017 event at which PURPLE was showcased can be accessed here.