European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (Bonn, 9-11 September 1970)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 22 January 1971 (24th Sitting) (see Doc. 2900, report of the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 22 January 1971 (24th Sitting).
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its
Recommendation 525 (1968), urging the Committee of Ministers to "convene, within the Council of Europe framework, a European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning",
2. Takes note with the keenest satisfaction of the final resolution of the first European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (Bonn, 9-11 September 1970), communicated to it by the Committee of Ministers and presented by the Chairman of the Conference in person (
Doc. 2851) ;
3. Welcomes the practical decisions taken by the Ministers with a view to laying the foundations for a "common European regional planning policy capable of ensuring a more balanced development of all parts of the continent" ;
4. Is especially gratified by the Ministers' decision to hold a second conference in two years time ;
5. Welcomes the active participation in the Bonn-Bad Godesberg Conference of a number of European non-member countries, and considers it necessary to achieve further co-operation in the future with all countries who wish to be associated with the Conference ;
6. Is gratified that the Ministers' Conference should have sought the co-operation of the Consultative Assembly and the European Conference of Local Authorities., and hopes that this co-operation will be developed further, since these two bodies, representing respectively the elected parliamentary and the local and regional representatives of the Council of Europe member countries, are particularly well-placed for this purpose ;
7. Reminds the Committee of Senior Officials that, in its
Recommendation 525 (1968), the Assembly defined the areas on which, in its opinion, the Conference of Ministers should concentrate :
definition of long-term objectives and the broad options of what must become tomorrow's European planning ;
co-ordination of the main communications networks and of the transport and equipment infrastructures, to form a coherent European whole ;
long-term policy for public utilities and the socio-cultural equipment necessary to a "society of leisure" ;
8. Convinced of the need to facilitate co-operation in frontier regions, recalls the proposal that the Consultative Assembly and the European Conference of Local Authorities should organise a "European Symposium of Frontier Regions", and refers to the report which it examined recently on pollution of the Rhine valley water-table, which brings out the urgency of co-operation of this kind ;
9. Shares the views expressed by the Conference concerning the close connection between the environment and regional planning, which "makes it possible to control the various factors which can make or mar the quality of the environment", this connection being further confirmed in the report on the pollution of the Rhine valley water-table ;
10. Welcomes the intention to establish between the participating countries a standing exchange of information on their regional planning programmes and feels that the Ministers should make a particular effort in the direction of :
co-ordination in time and space of regional planning in frontier areas ;
comparison of forecasts worked out in the various countries ;
11. Expresses the wish that, in progressively implementing Assembly
Recommendation 525, the second Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning will give priority on its agenda to the question of a European network of trunk communications as an essential part of regional planning ;
12. Hopes further that the reports submitted to the Assembly (
Doc. 2709 and
Doc. 2703) and the proposals it has made in this connection will be borne in mind by the Conference when making preparations for its second meeting ;
13. Expresses the wish that the Secretary General will be given the necessary means to provide the Conference and its preparatory committees with technical assistance.
