Priority 3

Priority 3: Community Development

New approaches are required to support communities, providing opportunities for all sectors of the community and the satisfactory provision of services. The sparse population makes consistency of service provision both difficult and expensive. There is a need to develop efficient and imaginative ways to increase access to a full range of good quality services. Service provision in these communities is, therefore, at the centre of this priority, with a focus on the living conditions and service demands of the household sector.
Measures to energise communities in general are needed, together with initiatives to involve inhabitants in local decision-making. Better planning tools are required to inform and implement spatial development strategies, related to the joint management of natural resources, regional development, and problem solving related to trans-boundary pollution together with ways to obtain sustainable development.

Measure 3.1 Household Related Service Provision

This measure concentrates on the delivery of services for two major reasons; because access to a wide range of service is of importance for the well being of the inhabitants and for the development of communities, and because rural communities with sparse population are facing a large challenge in this respect. Service should be widely interpreted in this context, covering both the public and private service that is required to make a community attractive.

New ways of delivering private and public services in sparsely populated areas will be needed in the future. This will apply to a wide range of services including health care, primary education, shopping, fuel, finance, information and transport.

Other relevant themes under this measure may be:

Development of better local or regional public transport schemes
Research that can clarify the service needs and requirements of the household sector
Ways for local communities to minimise waste production and recycle waste
Research to examine existing fiscal measures which encourage/discourage people to live and work in peripheral and sparsely populated areas.

Measure 3.2 Public Management and Spatial Planning

Community development also depends on public management and planning. This is most obvious in cases like public transport or health care but also more general aspects like the management of natural and cultural heritage and the degrees of freedom for local bodies to take special interest plays a role.

Initiatives exploring better ways of managing natural resources, developing new planning tools for local and regional economic development and planning policy and delivering sustainable development are themes in focus under this measure.

Illustrative project themes under this measure are:

Research aimed at clarifying ways to encourage people to stay and live in peripheral and sparsely populated areas
Efforts to develop relevant urban-rural partnerships, to meet common challenges
Co-operation to solve problems concerning trans-boundary pollution
Projects to develop management practices related to public resources, and to develop new planning tools e.g. with strong participatory aspects relevant for small communities
Projects, which enable communities to harness local natural resources for their own benefit
Projects that seek new ways for local authorities to cope with population decline, ageing and massive youth out-migration, including projects with a focus on equal opportunities to meet the specific problem of extremely high net out-migration among young women.
Projects to regenerate communities in, or threatened with, decline.

European Union

Cross Programme Initiatives