Revitalize city centers, open up rural communities, maintain local public services… With the signing, Tuesday, October 15, of the Hérault ruralité plan, a variation of the France ruralité plan launched in 2023, the State and the department of Hérault intend to provide concrete responses to the major future challenges of rural areas.
The village hall of Tour-sur-Orb, a small town of 1,350 inhabitants, hosted the official signing of the Hérault rurality plan on Tuesday October 15 in front of an assembly of 100 people, including around sixty mayors, representatives of the Department and heads of state services.
Decisive step for the territory – 75% of Hérault municipalities fall into the category of rural territories – this plan, established for three years, is not only a story of money, of an envelope which the municipalities would seize but rather a synergy between the Department, the mayors’ associations (AMR34 and AMF34), the Hérault prefecture and economic partners.
A toolbox to make municipal projects a reality
Designed as a toolbox to help them carry out their development projects, the Hérault ruralité plan pursues three objectives: financial support for projects in rural communities, reinforced technical support to help with their implementation, commitment towards 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 Tour-sur-Orb, a commune made up of 12 hamlets, 8 churches and 13 cemeteries, all along 90 km of paths, there is no shortage of projects, whether to create an associative café, a place of meeting and exchange 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 and coordinate the work.
Engineering is where the problem lies and this is precisely the objective of the plan: to bring technical expertise to small communities which face several challenges, the aging of the population, the difficulty of maintaining water services. proximity while preserving their heritage. “88% of the country’s municipalities are rural, and their demands are similar to urban areas but with fewer resources, agrees Philippe Doutremepuich, president of the association of rural mayors of Hérault, this plan is not only a catalog of good resolutions but the desire to act together on important subjects.”
The actions of the plan cover 14 themes: public services, health, mobility, digital but also ecological transition (renewable energies, water management), education as well as 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.). Subjects which will be supported by an operational committee capable of intervening to support project leaders in rural areas.
Rediscovering a happy rural life
With this plan, the prefect of Hérault, François-Xavier Lauch, displays the desire to bring smiles back to small towns, in a department where 2/3 of the territory is rural: “What the municipalities fundamentally lack is the capacity to transcribe political ideas into concrete projects. Thanks to the engineering provided by the Department and the departmental direction of territories and the sea of Hérault (DDTM) which will be at the end of the line to offer help to municipalities, we can overcome mountains of difficulties.”
At the heart of the problem of opening up, the question of housing rehabilitation and that of access to transport. A black spot in the economic development of rural communities. Frédéric Roig, president of the Hérault mayors’ association, illustrates the problem:“I take the example of a young resident of Bousquet-d’Orb who wants to do an apprenticeship in an activity zone in the community of communes of Clermontais, he cannot, due to lack of transport. Just like many residents who experience this on a daily basis Accessibility to work must be for everyone.
The prefect of Hérault readily recognizes this: “On transport, we are not good. In order to prevent those who cannot pay for diesel from being deprived of travel, there is a model that we have not yet found, but he welcomes the return of public services in the municipalities, if the state has made mistakes in withdrawing public services in the past, it has taken account of them and is back. In the Department we have opened 42 France Service houses, with 80% of procedures finalized.”
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 to Jim Ronez, the mayor of Fraïsse-sur-Agout
What do you expect from this Hérault rurality plan?
The benefit we see in this, for us small rural communities, is to be able to be supported in our projects. We have ideas and dynamism, but we lack the means to put them into practice. It is reassuring to be able to rely on departmental engineering assistance services. Without strong involvement from the Department, small municipalities cannot carry out their projects.
For example, what projects do you need help with?
In the town, 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 rural plan bring you?
Thanks to the rurality plan, we will be able to be supported in transforming this building. We don’t have the administrative machinery to do it. The duration of a mandate is sometimes not sufficient for this type of project. We need valid contacts to help us properly scale this transformation and seek funding.
