The executive is launching an aid plan of 12 million euros in 2023 for the installation of businesses in rural municipalities. The counters to apply open Wednesday in the prefectures of the department.
A small white coat covers the sidewalks and roofs of the small village of Frédéric Chassard, the mayor of Saint-Diéry. “There is still a little snow”, notes the aedile. We would like to make a little coffee to warm up, but “Unfortunately”there are none in this small village of Puy-de-Dôme.
A bakery, a café, a bar and a grocery store, in many villages in France these businesses have disappeared. To revive the towns and municipalities deprived the government announced, Wednesday, February 22, a plan to regain rural trade rich in an envelope of 12 million euros. From Wednesday March 1, a counter is open at the prefectures of the departments so that project leaders can apply. The mayor of Saint-Diéry has completed his file and he hopes to be eligible to revitalize his sleeping village.
The town hall and the postal agency are the only institutions open in Saint-Diéry. The last trade closed, a very long time ago. The city councilor, now 53, was very young at the time. “It’s when I was in elementary school, so it’s been quite a few years alreadyremembers Frédéric Chassard. She was a granny who ran a bar with a grocery store. When we left school, we went to look for time with this lady. Since this lady died, there is no longer any business in the town.
Kilometers that “weigh”
To buy a newspaper, do the shopping or go to the pharmacy, the 525 inhabitants of Saint-Diéry have to travel about ten kilometers by car. For bread failing to have a bakery. “We put in a bread vending machine todayexplains the mayor. It’s not very warm, but it’s a service rendered to the population.” For the inhabitants, the five or ten kilometers to be done by car to have a small croissant or a newspaper “weigh” on the wallet.
To revitalize Saint-Diéry, Frédéric Chassard has a project: a multi-service place. Just below the village near the activity zone, a plot of land reaches out to him and he imagines “the doctor, the physiotherapist and the bar-restaurant. A bar is a social bond.”
“It’s good that in the town, a place to live exists which creates the atmosphere with people who know each other. We have the candidates and the project. Today we lack the financial package.”
Frédéric Chassard, Mayor of Saint-Diéryat franceinfo
“A project that costs between 600,000 and 700,000 euros”, said the mayor. A sum that he hopes to finance in part thanks to this plan to regain rural trade.
The village of Saint-Diéry hopes to take advantage of the plan to reconquer rural trade – Farida Nouar
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