News

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) last week adopted an opinion on the "Recommendations for the successful design of regional development strategies beyond 2020" led by Rapporteur Mr Adam Struzik (PL/EPP), Marshal of PURPLE Member region, Mazovia (PL)

As PURPLE members will recall, we reported at both the 30th and 31st General Assemblies that PURPLE had taken part in the public consultation and engagement exercise which shaped the text of the report.

Of particular note from a peri-urban perspective is the reference to “Territorial cooperation in functional areas” and the paragraph (No.45 in the original text) which “notes that administrative boundaries often do not correspond to economic links throughout a territory. For example, there can be important links between cities and their surrounding commuter areas, between rural and urban areas or between neighbouring regions in different countries;”

With regard to our own previous work as regards peri-urban governance the following paragraph (No.46) is also particularly welcome: “stresses that the territorial impact goes beyond local areas and administrative boundaries in almost every issue of development and decisions must be made jointly at various levels. These decisions must be preceded by a joint dialogue from the very beginning when seeking answers to these questions;”, neatly concluding two paragraphs later by recommending “… developing joint strategies for functional areas and adapting relevant strategies and programmes where possible”.

Copies of the report in all official languages can be found at:

https://cor.europa.eu/EN/our-work/Pages/OpinionTimeline.aspx?opId=CDR-644-2019

THe 31st PURPLE General Assembly will take place in Brussels on the morning of Friday September 27 2019. Registration forms have been circulated to PURPLE members and can also be downloaded from the meetings section of this website. Anyone else wishing to attend the General Assembly is asked to contact info@purple_eu.org

PURPLE Secretary General Vincent O'Connell accepted an invitation to address the Governance Committee of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Europe CLRAE) - the assembly of locally/regionally elected representatives which is the political assembly of the Council of Europe. The event was held in Várpalota,Hungary in mid June and included a debate on rural-urban interplay which Mr O'Connell was asked to address. As well as explaining how PURPLE operates in its mission to support peri-urban regions, Mr O'Connell addressed the relationships that characterise peri-urban areas in terms of movement of people; markets and goods; resources and materials, and; governance.

The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session lasting around 45 minutes. Fuller details will be shared at he forthcoming PURPLE General Assembly.

The Flemish Land Agency (VLM) has now published the programme for the final conference of the Green4Grey project which will take place in Brussels on September 25 and 26 2019. PURPLE supported the original project application to the LIFE programme and has subsequently contributed to the establishment of a peri-urban Green Infrastructure expert group as part of the project's work.

The programme can be downloaded here

The registration form for the field visit on 25 September and the conference day on 26 September can be accessed from within the programme document or directly at:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_MtFQYiySEuGHia21Op3NSHPEjBPSDZOovrJNrw8Pz9UQlNZNFM3UEpFUUJMVjhMMEM3Mkk3MkRZUS4u

Please note - deadline for registrations is 10 September 2019.

The next PURPLE Thematic Working Group meeting will focus on the topic of peri-urban landscape and will be led and hosted by the region of Wielkopolska.

It will take place in Brussels on the afternoon of September 18. A programme and other details will be circulated in advance. Anyone interested in participating is asked to contact info@purple-eu.org

The PURPLE General Assembly elects a President and Executive Board every two years. On the occasion of the 30^th General Assembly held on May 29 2019 in Potsdam, PURPLE Treasurer Paul Van der Sluys took the General Assembly through the formal process of seeking and voting upon nominations for positions on the PURPLE Executive Board:

• Mrs Helyn Clack had indicated her desire to continue as network President in advance of the meeting. There were no other applications. Approved unanimously, Helyn Clack (Surrey, South East England) confirmed as President.

• Herr Rouven Koetter had indicated his willingness to serve as a network Vice-President in advance of the meeting. Approved unanimously, Rouven Koetter (FrankfurtRheinMain) confirmed as Vice-President.

• Mr Mark Winnington had expressed a wish to continue in his existing role as Vice-President in advance of the meeting. Approved unanimously, Mark Winnington (West Midlands) confirmed as Vice-President.

• Mr Miroslav Kubásek indicated his wish to serve as an Executive Board member. Approved unanimously, Miroslav Kubásek (South Moravia) confirmed as Executive Board member.

• Mr Paul Van der Sluys expressed his willingness to continue as network Treasurer and ex-officio Executive Board member. There were no other candidates.  Approved unanimously, Paul Van der Sluys (Flanders) confirmed as Treasurer.