Site updated 06-05-06
Boosting balanced regional development
The Environment Agency has taken an active interest in all strands of INTERREG. Sophie Purdey and Hugh Howes report
The INTERREG programme, a community initiative that aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion across regions, offers considerable benefits both to local planning authorities and the environment Agency. Many of the major planning issues in the UK are equally visible in other Community countries.
INTERREG provides a mechanism for exchanging good practice and developing tools across European regions to tackle these problems. As an additional source of funding, INTERREG can compliment existing resources to support balanced regional development.
Importance of working in co-operation
At the heart of the programme is the European Spatial Development Perspective and the inclusion of priorities for flood risk management and land use planning in this document reflect the importance of working in co-operation with other member states to tackle these issues.
The Agency welcomes the opportunity to become more involved in the planning of sustainable communities as the spatial planning system is an ideal vehicle for delivering environmental enhancements and sustainable development.
As the government launches the public consultation on a Modern Regional Policy for the United Kingdom, in which there is an objective to support and add value to the UK’s existing approach, the INTERREG programme potentially provides a route to realise the added value at a European level.
Three projects with European partners
The Environment Agency currently leads three projects with partners from across Europe and participates as a partner to 15 others. For instance, The Agency leads "Creating New Landscapes for Flood Risk Management" (CFM) which looks at changing public perception of flooding in the Thames Estuary from straightforward flood defences to the management of risk in order to tackle issues of flooding in innovative and sustainable ways.
In the North West, we are currently awaiting a decision from the Atlantic Area on the "Improving Coastal and Recreational Waters" (ICRW) project, which brings together partners from each of the member states within the programme area to explore common problems and build strategic solutions to improve bathing waters.
In our South West region, the "Cycleau" project includes partners in France, Ireland and the South West in a bid to generate innovative and transferable methodologies for the spatial planning of coasts, estuaries and river catchments. It will include pilot projects focusing on reducing diffuse pollution from agriculture and planning for natural hazards such as erosion and flooding.
Active partner in other projects
The Agency is an active partner in other projects across all regions. We are, for example, involved in the European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events (ESPACE) project that is being led by Hampshire County Council and supported by the South East of England Regional Assembly. This project is concerned with the sustainable water management where water supplies are a potential constraint on development in the context of climate change. This is an issue facing not only the South East of England but significant areas of Belgium, Holland and Germany.
Despite having worked for some years at the EU level on environmental policy, the INTERREG programme still presents the Agency with a steep learning curve, particularly in dealing with the tricky issues of transnationality and the time it takes to build and manage a project partnership. The Agency is still learning in all areas of the programme, but over the coming months will begin to bring forward tangible results through our new set of projects.
We believe that experiences across Europe on fundamental issues such as flood risk management, sustainable water management, land use and diffuse pollution will be of great value to local planning authorities and the Environment Agency alike.
Sophie Purdey is European Funding Manager, Environment Agency sophie.purdey@environment-agency.gov.uk and Hugh Howes is Regional Strategic Planner, Environment Agency hugh.howes@environment-agency
