The finding is clear: in France, nearly one in two municipalities has no trade, according to the latest data from INSEE.
Other basic services are also sorely lacking: three quarters of municipalities have no general practitioner, more than half no hairdressing salons, around 45% no restaurant.
All of this equipment seems to be concentrated in the largest cities, leaving the others behind.
Far from being discouraged by this situation, the small towns are stepping up actions to maintain or revive certain essential services for residents.
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We can no longer count the articles in the local press on a grocery store that opens in such and such a village, another which brings out a nursing home, or another which revives its coffee. "
Not a day goes by without an elected official telling me about his project,
" says Cédric Szabo, director of the Association of Rural Mayors of France (AMRF). Because, behind these local services, there is an issue of "
revitalization
" of these territories, adds Sacha Bentolila, adviser in charge of these issues at the Association of small towns in France (APVF).
The municipalities sometimes fend for themselves, as in Aigre (Charente). Without automatic teller machines (ATMs) in its town center for six years, the town hall of the village of 1,600 inhabitants installed its own terminal in mid-August, thanks to a partnership established with the Loomis money carrier. “
The first assessment is beyond our expectations,
” enthuses Mayor Renaud Combaud. “
In September, more than 1,200 withdrawals were made, with peaks on Thursday, market day.
"If they sometimes scramble alone for the procedures, some have been able to benefit from public subsidies, as in Saint-Victor-de-Buthon (Eure-et-Loir). After the closure four years ago of the only business in the village of 500 souls, a bakery, the town hall bought the building and carried out renovation work on the premises. "
We have received subsidies from the State, the region and the department, up to 60% of the total cost
," says Mayor Jean-Michel Cerceau. After two long years of looking for a buyer, the town hit its mark recently, with the opening last month of a full-service business in the old bakery.
Sometimes the initiatives come from the inhabitants themselves.
This is the case, for example, in Arrou (Eure-et-Loir), where Claude Bellessort, a retiree from the town, bought three businesses (a café, a bakery and a hairdressing salon) in the space of four years, two of which had just closed.
“
Seeing these businesses disappear made me sick to my heart,
” said the 66-year-old former entrepreneur.
In total, he invested 500,000 euros with his two brothers, the three men having joined together in a real estate company (SCI).
The State in support of the municipalities
The State itself is also in the process of maneuvering through several programs launched in recent years.
The most publicized is undoubtedly the creation of “France Services” houses, announced by Emmanuel Macron in April 2019, or one-stop shops bringing together many public services (CAF, Pôle Emploi, La Poste, Public Finances, etc.).
A device supposed to take over from an existing initiative, the public service houses (MSAP).
Today, 1,745 places have been labeled “
France Services
”, according to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, with the objective of reaching the 2,500 mark by the end of 2022.
“We are calling for the generalization of support programs (for municipalities).
"
Cédric Szabo, director of the Association of Rural Mayors of France (AMRF)
Two other programs have also emerged in recent years. First, the “City
heart action
” plan
in 2017, intended to revitalize city centers, and which benefited 234 medium-sized towns. Five billion euros have been allocated over five years to this program, recently extended until 2026. A similar initiative for municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants was launched in October 2020, called “Small towns of tomorrow”. Three billion euros are mobilized until 2026. More than 1,600 territories are supported by this program in their development project. Among them is the town of Montbard (Côte-d'Or). "
This plan makes it possible to develop a roadmap with a global revitalization strategy
"Says Mayor Laurence Gate, insisting in support of"
engineering
"provided by the State through a"
project manager
"made available to the municipality.
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If the associations of municipalities positively judge these state programs, they also point out their limits. For "
Small towns of tomorrow
", "
the question of funding will arise when the some 1600 projects are ready,
" said Sacha Bentolila, of the APVF. For his part, Cédric Szabo, of the AMRF, considers these actions undersized. "
We demand a generalization of these support programs
", he calls. The State's decision to abolish the Intervention Fund for the Safeguarding of Crafts and Commerce (Fisac) in 2019 also remains in the throats of the mayors. "
We do not understand why this tool stopped, while it gave the possibility for the municipalities to be the direct financiers of traders,
”asks Laurence Porte, the mayor of Montbard.
This decision "
lacks consistency with the national policy in favor of the upgrading of city centers
", had meanwhile deplored François Baroin, president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), in October 2018.
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The Covid has given new impetus to small businesses
"
The emergence of private initiatives
Alongside the State,
“many private players are positioning themselves
” on the issue of maintaining local services in small towns, underlines Cédric Szabo. Among them is the SOS group, with its “
1000 Cafés
” program. An initiative launched in September 2019, the stated objective of which is to open 1,000 cafes in 1,000 municipalities with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants. This program, which benefits from government support, has already received 1,042 applications from elected officials, according to its director Sophie Le Gal, and is now supporting 100 municipalities in their project to open a full-service café. “
We are the ones who operate each location. We hold all the ends of the chain, from the investment to the support of theactivity through recruitment
», Explains Sophie Le Gal, who adds to having recently added a new string to her bow: the support of existing and"
weakened
"
cafes
.
Read alsoThe "1000 cafes" operation slowed down by the crisis
Through its economic model and its ambition, "
1000 Cafés
" is similar to the start-up Comptoir de Campagne, whose principle is to work with the municipalities to open a multiservice business in their territory. To date, 11 counters have been created, mainly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, which are managed by the company. For the next ones, Virginie Hils, the founder of Comptoir de Campagne, wants to turn to the franchise model. “
We aim to open 15 to 20 counters per year from next year
She says.
Among other private initiatives of the same type, we can also mention that of the citizen movement Bouge Ton CoQ, which directly offers residents to support them in the launch of an associative grocery store in their village.
If 70 are already in operation, the ambition is to open 2000 eventually.
For its part, the Bistrot de pays label, created almost 30 years ago, aims to support independent cafes and bars.
So many initiatives that help revitalize territories which, if we are to believe the first barometer of small towns produced by Ipsos and published at the end of October, are attractive to the French.
Two thirds of those questioned living in another type of municipality say that they are considering moving to a small town one day.
