Five villages in Emden are starting large-scale renovation projects!

Five villages in Emden are starting large-scale renovation projects!

In the next ten years, the villages of Petkum, Widdelswehr, Jarßum, Petkumer Münte and Hilmarsum can look forward to extensive renovation. The city of Emden, together with the Working Group for Regional Structural and Environmental Research GmbH (Arsu), has drawn up exciting plans that have now been presented. This initiative is part of the “Fiev Dörpen” village development program, which is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union. The goal? Strengthen rural regions and significantly improve the living environment outside of cities. According to nwzonline.de, the city of Emden has a funding rate of 65%, while it will bear a third of the costs itself.

In total there are 48 projects that are intended to improve the quality of life of around 8,000 villagers with an estimated cost of over 17 million euros. These projects include the renovation of community centers, the creation of new squares, vending machines for farmers and leisure activities such as water sports and swimming lakes. The planned youth area between Widdelswehr and Jarßum is particularly exciting and will be equipped with a shelter, table tennis tables, a mountain bike path and a climbing wall. The renovation of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Jarßum is also being planned, with costs of at least 500,000 euros expected.

Citizen wishes and challenges

The citizens of the villages have concrete ideas about what should be improved. Requests for an upgrade of the playgrounds, traffic calming on State Road 2 and restrictions for trucks are at the top of the list. City planner David Malzahn emphasized that it is often unclear which projects will ultimately be feasible. Wilke Held from the CDU, on the other hand, emphasizes the urgency of getting projects especially for young people off the ground quickly. The plans will now be laid out for four weeks before concrete implementation begins.

Such initiatives are not only relevant in Emden. The village development program is a central funding instrument in rural areas of Lower Saxony. As the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture informs, twelve new village regions have recently been added and are taking part in an extensive program for integrated rural development. A total of 193 village regions with 798 villages are now taking part, which underlines the importance of such projects. In the current funding period from 2023 to 2027, 220 million euros are available.

Rural development in focus

The federal government has set itself the goal of strengthening rural regions as independent living and economic areas. The use of various funding instruments, including those from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is of great importance (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture). The adjustments to the CAP since 2000 in particular have resulted in rural areas being better supported. Broadband expansion in rural areas remains a major challenge, but here too the goal is clear: comprehensive coverage of gigabit networks by 2030.

With all of these measures and support programs, the rural regions in Lower Saxony show that they are working on their development with a good hand. While the villages in Emden are now looking forward to the coming changes, it remains to be hoped that all plans can be implemented into reality as planned.