The Hérault rurality plan “aims to bring smiles back to rural communities” assures the prefect
|Une assemblée de maires de communes rurales pour la signature du plan Hérault ruralité – Mathilde Jullien
Revitalize city centers, open up rural communities, maintain local public services… With the signing, on Tuesday October 15, of the Hérault ruralité plan, a variation of the France ruralité plan launched in 2023, the State and the Hérault department intend to provide concrete responses to the major future challenges of rural areas.
The village hall of La Tour-sur-Orb, a small town of 1,350 inhabitants, hosted the official signing of the Hérault rurality plan on Tuesday, October 15, before an assembly of 100 people, including around sixty mayors, representatives of the Department and heads of State services.
A decisive step for the territory – 75% of Hérault municipalities fall into the category of rural territories – This plan, established for three years, is not just a story of money, of an envelope that the municipalities would seize, but rather a synergy between the Department, the mayors' associations (AMR34 and AMF34), the Hérault prefecture and the economic partners.
A toolbox to realize the projects of the municipalities
Designed as a toolbox to help them carry out their development projects, the Hérault rurality plan pursues three objectives: financial support for the projects of rural municipalities, reinforced technical support to help them carry out their projects, commitment to sustainable projects linked to ecological and social transitions.
“With this agreement, a new era begins. Rurality is no longer synonymous with isolation but with opportunity, rejoiced Bernard Sallettes, the mayor of La Tour-sur-Orb, a town made up of 12 hamlets, 8 churches and 13 cemeteries, all on 90 km of paths, there is no shortage of projects, whether it is to create an associative café, a meeting and exchange place for all generations, or to buy and rehabilitate vacant housing, the renovation of a school or a health center, but there is a lack of engineering to structure these projects, coordinate the works".
Engineering is where the problem lies and that is precisely the objective of the plan: to provide technical expertise to small municipalities that face several challenges, the aging of the population, the difficulty of maintaining local services while preserving their heritage. “88% of the country's municipalities are rural, and their demands are similar to those of urban areas but with fewer resources, agrees Philippe Doutremepuich, president of the association of rural mayors of Hérault, this plan is not not just a catalogue of good resolutions, but the will to act together on important issues.
The plan's actions cover 14 themes: public services, health, mobility, digital technology, but also the ecological transition (renewable energy, water management), education, and the development of agriculture, tourism and culture. It does not ignore security issues, which are also taken into account (fight against drug trafficking, domestic violence, burglaries, etc.). Topics that will be supported by an operational committee capable of intervening to support project leaders in rural areas.
Finding a happy rurality
With this plan, the prefect of Hérault, François-Xavier Lauch, is showing his desire to bring smiles back to small towns, in a department where 2/3 of the territory is rural: “What municipalities fundamentally lack is the ability to translate political ideas into concrete projects.”Thanks to the engineering provided by the Department and the Hérault Departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea (DDTM), which will be on the other end of the line to offer assistance to municipalities, we can overcome mountains of difficulties.”
At the heart of the problem of opening up, the question of housing rehabilitation and access to transport. A black spot in the economic development of rural municipalities. Frédéric Roig, president of the association of mayors of Hérault, illustrates the problem:“I take the example of a young resident of Bousquet-d'Orb who wants to go and do an apprenticeship in an activity zone in the Clermontais community of communes, he can't, due to lack of transport. Just like many residents who experience this on a daily basis. Access to work must be for everyone”.
The prefect of Hérault readily acknowledges this: “On transport, we are not good. In order to prevent those who cannot afford to pay for diesel from being deprived of travel, there is a model that has not yet been found, but he welcomes the return of public services to the municipalities, if the State made mistakes by withdrawing public services in the past, it has taken them into account and it is back. In the Department we have opened 42 France Service houses, with 80% of procedures completed."
In order to ensure the success of this plan for rurality in Hérault, a monitoring committee will be set up to support its implementation and evaluate its progress on a regular basis.
Questions for Jim Ronez, Mayor of Fraïsse-sur-Agout
What do you expect from this Hérault rurality plan?
The interest what we see there, we small rural communities, is to be able to be supported in our projects. We have ideas, dynamism, but we lack the means to make them a reality. It is reassuring to be able to rely on departmental services for engineering assistance. Without strong involvement from the Department, small communities cannot carry out their projects.
For example, what projects do you need help with??
In the commune, we have an old Campotel (mini-holiday village – Editor's note) which is in administrative closure because it no longer meets administrative standards, and at the same time, we have the crucial need to welcome new families and thus ensure the sustainability of our school.
In this specific case, what will the rurality plan bring you?
Thanks to the rurality plan, we will be able to be supported to transform this building. We do not have the administrative apparatus to do it. The duration of a mandate is sometimes not sufficient for this type of project. We need valid interlocutors to help us properly size this transformation, to seek financing.
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