The ‘Pader River Landscape Information and Experience Concept’ project receives ERDF funding of €1.5 million.

Anna Katharina Bölling, District President of Detmold, recently presented Mayor Michael Dreier with a notice of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the amount of €1.5 million for the ‘Pader River Landscape Information and Experience Concept’ project. The background to the project is the application for the European Heritage Label (EKS) with the Pader river landscape. The approved funding will be used to co-finance, among other things, the Pader Information Centre in the new town hall, a signage concept and many experience locations for imparting knowledge on the subject of water.

‘This decision sends an important signal for the city centre and the Pader river landscape,’ emphasised Mayor Michael Dreier. ‘The Pader is a unique green belt that runs through the middle of the city. This river has a very special meaning for us and is a major attraction for visitors to our city. The funding will help us to make the Pader even more accessible and interesting,’ he explained. The project was selected in a two-stage application process based on the ERDF funding call ‘Erlebnis.NRW – Shaping the future of culture, nature and sustainable tourism’. It is one of 19 projects supported by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the EU with the aim of sustainable tourism development.

Funding for the 19 NRW projects totals around €29.4 million from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the EU. ‘The Pader is a flagship for the city of Paderborn,’ emphasised Anna Katharina Bölling. ‘It creates spaces where young and old can come together and establishes a shared identity,’ continued the district president.

With the experience locations along the Pader, the city wants to tell the story of the city river's 1,200-year history and the close coexistence and connections between culture and nature. Also interesting is the change in significance from a business location to an important local recreation area. ‘The coexistence between people and the river is extraordinary and remarkable,’ emphasised Technical Councillor Claudia Warnecke. ‘European values are also associated with the river landscape, and we want to pass on this knowledge.’

The Pader River Landscape Information and Experience Concept aims to improve the accessibility of the unique Pader River landscape for tourists in a sustainable manner and make it more accessible from a cultural, historical and ecological perspective in a European context. Specifically, this is achieved through a combination of experiential and experimental locations at approximately 15 points of natural and cultural-historical importance from the source to the mouth of the river. Components include a new, bilingual signage system to guide visitors and a central Pader information centre in the city centre. ‘With our project, we want to make the various facets more tangible on site,’ added Brigitte Zacharias, programme manager for the European Heritage Label application.

Image information: Present at the handover of the funding approval notice were (from left) Stefan Buschmeier, Head of Department at the Office for Environmental Protection and Green Spaces, EKS Programme Manager Brigitte Zacharias, Mayor Michael Dreier, District President Anna Katharina Bölling, Technical Councillor Claudia Warnecke and Deputy Mayor Dieter Honervogt.