Resolution No. 1 on Achievements and prospects of regional planning in Europe

Preamble

1. Ten years after its first session (Bonn, 1970), the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning held its fifth session in London on 21 and 22 October 1980 at the invitation of the Government of the United Kingdom. The conference was attended by ministers and government representatives from the following Council of Europe member states: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom, and in observer capacity of Finland and Yugoslavia. Five international governmental organisations were represented: the Commission of the European Communities, the European Parliament, the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the European Free Trade Association.

2. The conference expresses its deepest appreciation to the Government of the United Kingdom for organising the fifth session and for its hospitality.

3. The conference wishes to thank the Council of Europe and its various organs for the very fruitful working relationship established with them, and in particular the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe and also thanks all those international organisations which regularly contribute to its work.

4. In view of the commitment demonstrated by participating countries, the different Council of Europe bodies and the interest shown by other intergovernmental organisations which have co-operated with CEMAT from the start, the conference reaffirms its determination to follow up and intensify the European co-operation achieved in the field of regional planning which should take place in the broadest possible geographical and institutional framework, and in this way to provide man and his communities with the environment necessary for the development of democratic societies in Europe.

Decisions

The ministers,

participating in the fifth session of the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning,

1. having taken note of the report on “Achievements and prospects for regional planning in Europe”, presented by the Austrian delegation,

2. considering that European co-operation in the field of regional planning has intensified over the past ten years and has created a better understanding between the participating countries,

3. noting that the final resolutions adopted at their four previous sessions have defined certain guidelines for a European approach to regional planning,

4. noting that the main principles of European regional planning as laid down by CEMAT make an important contribution to the North–South dialogue on balanced development in Europe which has been initiated within the Council of Europe,

5. believing that CEMAT represents, as they have already emphasised at their previous sessions, the most suitable platform for establishing and developing ever-widening European co-operation in the field of regional planning at political, institutional and technical levels, and that the conference must, ten years after its inception, embark on a second stage of its work by implementing the major principles that have been defined so far,

I. Recommend to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe:

6. to give high priority to work and action in the field of regional planning by reinforcing the “regional planning” sector within the Council of Europe work programme and to provide it with the necessary means, within the budgetary possibilities of the Council of Europe, to enable proposals for this sector made by the ministers responsible for regional planning to be efficiently implemented.

II. Instruct their Committee of Senior Officials:

7. to study, in the light of the debates of the 5th CEMAT, the impact of the main problems which will confront regional planning in Europe in the coming years, and accordingly, to draw up a medium-term frame of reference for the future work of the conference,

8. to examine in its future work the possibility of drawing up a European Regional Planning concept,

9. to pursue closer co-operation with the European Communities and interested intergovernmental organisations,

10. to intensify working relations with the Parliamentary Assembly and the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe with a view to organising joint meetings with the competent committees.