In late October 2019, the PERFECT partnership held their final partner meeting of Phase 1. The meeting was hosted in Kaposvár, Hungary by partner 4, SASD.
The focus of the meeting was on the finalisation of partner action plans and preparing for Phase 2, specifically how the progress of the action plans are going to be monitored and evaluated. Each partner is currently preparing an action plan that will lay out how they will implement what they have learnt through the project in their own countries over the next two years.
Partners and stakeholders learnt about the Green City Call in Hungary, which is aiming to extend and protect urban green areas, and visited, on a very rainy day, two of the projects being financed through this instrument:
- The group visited Siófok and were welcomed by the Deputy Mayor, Ms. Anita Molnár Bardóczine. Following a presentation on the history and development of the town, the group visited the main square where the green areas have been renewed and the area of impermeable surfaces reduced.
- The group visited Balatonboglár and were welcomed by the Mayor, Miklós Mészáros. He explained the history of the city and how the National Balaton Act strictly regulates development around the Lake. The Mayor introduced the ‘Bubble’ project on the shores of Lake Balaton – this is transforming a poor-quality, tarmacked area into a family-friendly green centre.
We also heard from high-level stakeholders about Hungarian green infrastructure planning tools. Of particular interest was the Biological Activity Value (BAV), a calculation methodology for improving the provision of green infrastructure introduced in 2007. New development is not permitted to lower the BAV score previously achieved.
The meeting culminated in bi-lateral peer group discussions between partners and stakeholders which focused on the content of the partner action plans and how the progress of these will be monitored.
Over the past three years of the project, strong links have developed between partners and all partners will be implementing lessons learnt through this cooperation in their Phase 2 action plan. Although we are reaching the end of the learning phase of the project, the partnership will remain active throughout Phase 2 in particular to facilitate the implementation of the action plans inspired by interregional learning.
