Photo from left to right: Birgit Honé (Lower Saxony Minister for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development), Stefan Molkentin (Regional Manager aconium), Harald Ottmar (Deputy Head of the Office for Regional Development Lüneburg), MdL Oliver Lottke, Torsten Rohde (Mayor of Osterholz-Scharmeck), Frank Wätjen (Department of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism City of Osterholz-Scharmbeck)
Credits: Sonja K. Sancken
On September 20, Birgit Honé, Lower Saxony’s Minister for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development, handed over a positive funding decision for the planning and implementation of a “Regionales Genussdepot” in the town of Osterholz-Scharmbeck – a successful project application by aconium GmbH.
The funding decision from the “Future Spaces Lower Saxony” funding program of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development is primarily aimed at small and medium-sized centers. The program promotes cooperation and development projects to improve services and attractiveness in the centers.
The idea behind the “Regionales Genussdepot Osterholz-Scharmbeck” is to set up a pick-up station in the town center for predominantly regional products. It should be barrier-free and the products on offer should be available there 24 hours a day. This will allow farms and other suppliers to offer their products centrally in the city center. If required, refrigerated or heated compartments will also be available. One of the aims of the project is to further revitalize the city centre and make it more attractive. In addition, the city center trade and the weekly market are to be strengthened by this unlimited offer.
Minister Birgit Honé praised the approach at the handover: “With this project, Osterholz-Scharmbeck meets the central idea of our Zukunftsräume funding program: We want to strengthen small and medium-sized municipalities as anchor points of rural regions. And this works wonderfully when sustainable added value in the form of good products from the region is presented in the “shop window” of the town center.”
“City centers are facing enormous challenges. These must be mastered together. This also includes finding new, perhaps previously unknown, ways to retain local customers and suppliers. We are therefore delighted that we were able to convince the Ministry with our idea. Now it’s time to develop the project idea further. The aim is to create a real space for the future with the Genussdepot in our city center. And who knows, maybe it will even lead to the opening of one or two start-ups in the city center where regional products are marketed,” summarizes Stefan Tietjen, Head of the Economic Development, Culture and Tourism Department of the city of Osterholz-Scharmbeck.
Harald Ottmar, Deputy Head of the Lüneburg Regional Development Office, emphasized: “The project was selected for funding because it can make a very important contribution to strengthening Osterholz-Scharmbeck’s function as a town center by setting an example. The all-day use of vacant space in the city center by setting up a pick-up station in a central location opens up another sales channel for smaller producers of regional products and also attracts more public traffic to the city center. In addition, the project makes use of the opportunities offered by digitalization in a contemporary way, as the pick-up station will be advertised with the help of a central online store.”