In order to exchange the best ideas here, to identify and master the challenges of the future together, District Administrator Thomas Eberth founded the inter-municipal advisory board of the district of Würzburg. The aim is also to network the district politics with the alliances in order to learn from each other and to exchange information regularly about the challenges, according to a press release from the Würzburg district office.
In its first meeting, the advisory board also discussed topics such as cycle path networks and local supplies. “Through the alliances there is a close connection between the mayors, networked thinking is practiced here, which helps to further develop our communities. But the four alliance-free, urban communities of Höchberg, Gerbrunn, Veitshöchheim and Rottendorf are also important in this network. Because large and small Municipalities support each other in many ways, “said the district administrator.
Five alliances and a local working group
First of all, each of the five alliances and the LAG Wein, Wald, Wasser presented themselves to the intermunicipal advisory board with their key areas. Margetshöchheim’s mayor and deputy district administrator Waldemar Brohm is spokesman for the Main-Wein-Garten alliance, which includes eight communities north of Würzburg: Erlabrunn, Himmelstadt, Leinach, Margetshöchheim, Retzstadt, Thüngersheim and the market in Zell am Main. There are also Zellingen, Himmelstadt and Retzstadt from the Main-Spessart district.
The alliance’s fields of activity range from infrastructure to culture. Projects that have already been implemented are joint day-care center management, a joint registry office, a water development concept and much more. In the future, a fruit orchard center is to be built in Margetshöchheim and groundwater protection will continue to move into focus.
Bergtheim’s mayor Konrad Schlier is the spokesman for the Würzburg North Alliance, nicknamed “More than cabbage and beets”. It includes the communities Bergtheim, Eisenheim, Estenfeld, Güntersleben, Hausen, Kürnach, Oberpleichfeld, Prosselsheim, Rimpar and Unterpleichfeld. One goal is to create a central secondary school at one location, but groundwater protection is also an important task in the agricultural north of the district.
Construction yard concept and regional shopping opportunities
“We have been working for years on a scientific and well-founded analysis of the subject of groundwater, cultural landscape and agriculture – unfortunately this is a slow process and the water management office is showing itself to be a brake block,” said Mayor Schlier, disappointed. A building yard concept, the QR tour with “Traktor Konni”, a culinary guide, gastronomy and regional shopping opportunities are on the agenda.
In addition to Eibelstadt, Marktbreit, Marktsteft, the five markets of Frickenhausen, Randersacker, Sommerhausen, Winterhausen, Obernbreit and the three municipalities of Theilheim, Segnitz am Main and Sulzfeld am Main from the districts of Würzburg and Kitzingen, Ochsenfurt belongs to the intermunicipal alliance MainDreieck.
Ochsenfurt’s mayor Peter Juks named the Main as a connecting element of the twelve municipalities in which around 35,000 people live. The focus here is on wine, culture, nature and tourism. Numerous cultural hiking trails and new bike paths have already been created. The establishment of a tourism association is currently being discussed.
14 municipalities in the Franconian South Alliance
Giebelstadt’s Mayor Helmut Krämer spoke on behalf of the Franconian South Alliance. This amalgamation comprises 14 municipalities and 56 districts: the cities of Aub, Ochsenfurt and Röttingen, the markets of Bütthard, Gelchsheim, Giebelstadt, Reichenberg and the municipalities of Bieberehren, Gaukönigshofen, Geroldshausen, Kirchheim, Riedenheim, Sonderhofen and Tauberrettersheim. Here, too, tourism is one of the core issues, internal development has been recognized as a task for decades, and cultural hiking trails created together invite you to discover. Small projects like the 37 “passenger benches” have already been successfully implemented. 20 projects are currently being implemented, said Krämer.
In the west of Würzburg, 13 municipalities (Altertheim, Eisingen, Greußenheim, Helmstadt, Hettstadt, Holzkirchen, Kist, Kleinrinderfeld, Neubrunn, Remlingen, Uettingen, Waldbrunn and Waldbüttelbrunn) have come together to form the alliance Waldsassengau, explained Hettstadt’s mayor Andrea Rothenbucher.
Local working group across the district border
An area, on the one hand framed by the motorway and federal highways as a well-developed economic area, on the other hand as an eco-model region very successfully active with farm shops, 30 percent organic agriculture, and with a well-developed cycle path network and cultural hiking trails ideally positioned for leisure and relaxation. But structural issues such as vacancy management and family doctor security are also on the agenda.
Harald Fröhlich introduced the Local Working Group (LAG) Wine, Forest, Water as their manager. The LAG is an association of 28 municipalities in the districts of Würzburg and Main-Spessart, which is funded by the EU and the Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forests.
One of the outstanding projects here is the Gramschatzer Wald forest experience center, where a new forest of numbers has just opened. Projects being implemented here are “dry stone walls in Güntersleben”, StadtNatur im Haslachtal Gerbrunn and a cooperation project for the works of Balthasar Neumann in the LAG area. A city museum for Karlstadt and the Rottendorf culture and meeting station are also being planned.
Better access to EU funding
According to District Administrator Thomas Eberth, the aim is to link the five alliances with the European Leader funding program in order to obtain even better access to EU funding for important regional projects. The work of the alliances and the Leader action group will therefore be more closely networked in the Würzburg district in the future. “Not everyone has to reinvent the wheel, you can definitely learn from each other ?? The main thing is that it benefits the citizen, nature and thus the region,” said the district administrator, pleased about the stronger cooperation.
On the part of the district office, Michael Dröse, head of district development, is to coordinate and network the cooperation between the alliances. Because cycle paths, company settlements, residential developments, local public transport, local supply as well as leisure and recreation are topics that strengthen the entire region and promote a district worth living in.
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