JOINT
ASSOCIATION AND PARTNERS
In December 1999
the Syndicat Mixte du Puy Mary was created to ensure
the implementation of the O.G.S. “Puy Mary
- Volcan du Cantal”. As a public inter-communal
body, a joint association has the advantage of being
able to bring together several levels of local and
public authorities to carry out a development project.
This association has
therefore become the body responsible for the management,
coordination, follow-up and promotion of this approach
but in particular the guarantor of the spirit of
the Grand Site project.
The Syndicat Mixte
du Puy Mary is composed of the Conseil Général
du Cantal, du Parc Naturel Régional des Volcans
d’Auvergne and the thirteen town councils
in the massif :
Dienne, Lavigerie, Cheylade,
Le Claux,
Saint Vincent de Salers, Le Vaulmier,
Le Falgoux, Lascelles, Saint-Cirgues-de-Jordanne,
Mandailles-Saint-Julien,
St Projet-de-Salers, Le Fau, St Paul-de-Salers. |
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With only 2,400 inhabitants at the last
census, the villages on the Grand Site have undergone
a drastic fall in demographics since 1936; currently
the population density is less than 7 inhabitants
/ Km². Furthermore, certain villages are extremely
hemmed in and isolated as the valleys radiating out
from Puy Mary only communicate when the Pas de Peyrol
pass is open (~ 5 months of the year). These districts,
representing 36,000 ha, make up the territory for
which the Grand Site action plan is being carried
out.
| Seventy
percent of the Syndicat Mixte du Puy Mary budget
comes from the Conseil Général, 20% from the Parc
Naturel Régional des Volcans d’Auvergne and 10%
from the thirteen member town councils. As for
the operations planned in the Grand Site programme,
they benefit, depending on the type of undertaking,
from financial backing from the European Council,
government, Auvergne region, Massif Central collective
agreement, etc. |
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Over and above its members,
all the local authorities and players are conscious
of what is at stake for the Cantal department in terms
of Puy Mary's development and image. A development
council was therefore formed under the auspices of
the association. This "resource centre"
of people from the territory federates 70 partner
organisations, in environmental fields, outdoor activities,
tourism, farming, economy, services, etc. The aim
of the Grand Site is to unite these active forces
so that they may promote and implement a genuine Massif-based
project.
René
Barrière
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