No bei iech
No bei dir
1. Foreword by the Municipal Councillor and President of the section
2. Life, living and working in our community
3. Social and club life
4. Sustainability, environment and agriculture
5. Schools, day-care and youth centre
6. Youth and senior citizens
7. Mobility in our municipality
8. Services and the finances of the municipality
9. Infrastructures
10. Tourism
11. Preserving our heritage
12. Culture
01 Foreword by the Municipal Councillor and President of the Section
Dear fellow citizens,
On 11 June you will be called upon to elect your local councillors for the next six years.
“No bei Iech – No bei dir” is the DP’s motto for the coming elections.
In the coming years, the DP wants to shape our community in close cooperation with the citizens. Grassroots democracy is one of the foundations of the liberal movement in Luxembourg, and of the Democratic Party.
For us, the well-being of our citizens and the development of our municipality are at the forefront of our work.
Areas such as coexistence, work, the future of our children, young people and senior citizens, security, environmental protection, nature, economy, mobility and tourism are among the focal points of our efforts.
Furthermore, we focus on infrastructure, the renewal and maintenance of municipal buildings, and the creation of affordable housing for young and old of all social classes.
In its present election programme, the DP offers concrete answers to these questions. The candidates are fully committed and, with your approval, will realise these projects.
Even in opposition during the past years, our overarching goal was to help shape individual projects for the benefit of our citizens and community.
Shaping our community together with you is our greatest wish, so let us work together on this project.
Daniel Frieden
Local Councillor and President of the local section of the Democratic Party Steinfort, Hagen, Kleinbettingen and Grass
02 Life, living and working in our community
The municipality of Steinfort has developed rapidly in recent years. This means that we not only have more inhabitants, but also that urgent and necessary investments need to be made. must be made to maintain the quality of life. Maintaining and improving the quality of life of our citizens must be a priority.
Our municipality has joined various national programmes and initiatives, for example “Housing Pact 2.0, Climate Pact 2.0, Nature Pact, etc.” These programmes offer the municipality the opportunity to steer its development without losing sight of its overall goals and values. The development of the municipality should be done in a sustainable way in all areas, if possible.
Many of these actions are only possible in cooperation with the relevant ministries and administrations. Even on a local level, a municipality cannot always develop on its own, which is why the municipality is involved in various unions. In this way, the needs and requirements in the various areas are also guaranteed.
The Democratic Party wants to include the opinion of the citizens on political decisions and keep them informed through targeted information and communication campaigns. This should not only be done through social media and the internet, but also through traditional information channels and regular information meetings. In this sense, the access of citizens to the services of the municipality must also be reconsidered and, where possible, made more flexible.
Ensuring safety in public spaces is indispensable. This ranges from street lighting to the lighting of public facilities and buildings to traffic, even if everyone is talking about energy-saving measures at the moment. There are sufficient alternatives in lighting to achieve both goals.
We also want to increase security through a greater police presence in our community.
On the subject of traffic, the DP will advocate traffic-calming measures both in the projects planned by the municipality itself and in close cooperation with the responsible state authorities. This will include the planning of sensible bypass roads as well as the creation of soft mobility options. Better and safer sidewalks and cycling lanes are a priority and, where possible, the establishment of “shared space” zones.
We want to create again proper town centres in our villages where citizens can meet.
The children’s playgrounds in the respective residential areas should be regularly checked, maintained and adapted to the needs of the children and young people.
The DP will ensure that the municipality remains attractive for the various companies and thus contributes its share to securing jobs. This can be done by expanding the Zaro Syndicate’s business parks, but also by creating incentives for Start-Ups and businesses to settle in Steinfort.
We want to create both affordable and accessible housing.
In addition, the DP will try to implement a possibility to build so-called “Tiny Houses”.
Our municipality offers already a wide range of medical services. The DP will ensure that this will also be the case in the future and that this offer will be further increased. In addition to the “Centre médicalisé”, the inter-communal hospital of the syndicate “HIS”, the pharmacy, further offers are to be added.
In addition, we are committed to ensuring that all municipal buildings and facilities are and will be accessible to people with a disability.
The extension and renovation of the Steinforter hospital should be continued. The DP is also considering creating another structure for the elderly, for assisted and inter-generational living.
03 Social and club life
We welcome and support the social commitments of the municipality. We want to make sure that the municipality creates housing for socially disadvantaged people. However, no people should be excluded and so it is essential to coordinate with the relevant authorities.
Several municipalities in our country have already implemented that menstrual products are offered free of charge in all public buildings. This creates a new fundamental right. We advocate that our municipality introduces this by making the various items available in all public buildings.
The inhabitants of our municipality should have the possibility to use the services of a so-called “écrivain public”. This person will help them to write administrative letters, CVs and all public correspondence, as well as to fill in administrative forms, and will also help elderly residents to complete various administrative procedures online.
As DP Steinfort, we want to start awareness campaigns to motivate foreign citizens to become members of the various associations and thus feel better integrated in society. They should be encouraged to register on the electoral rolls and to take an active role in the political shaping of the community.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the issue of refugees is once again on the agenda. We stand for helping the people that had to flee the war. The existing structures in the municipality must be further developed and their integration promoted. A mixed social structure would be a good option.
The DP Steinfort advocates a lively exchange between the citizens and their cultures. Organised festivals in the neighbourhood, round table discussions and various language courses are the goal. It should be possible to offer these courses to all interested citizens.
The courses for young and old offered by the Landakademie should be continued and even expanded.
We are aware of the importance of our associations in the municipality. Without them many festivals and events could not be realised. Therefore, we advocate that they are better supported by the municipality with rooms for their material but also for their meetings or events. The technical service of the municipality should continue to help the associations with their events.
Many of the children in our community would like to be involved in the various clubs but have no means of getting from the childcare structure to the clubs. We want to coordinate with the clubs to create a transport possibility to enable these children to get to their clubs.
We want to work out a new distribution formula to distribute the financial contributions of the municipality to the clubs more fairly. Here, social commitment and youth work should be respected.
04 Sustainability, environment and agriculture
Take initiative
Our municipality is represented in the Climate Alliance and the Climate Pact, and we want to keep it that way. The municipality of Steinfort is already very active, but there is still room for improvement. The municipality can do even more in the area of CO2 emissions and sustainable sources.
This also applies to the Nature Pact. The municipality is a member and very active, but some municipalities in the country are far ahead. We will work to ensure that our municipality takes a pioneering role in the future.
We will continue to be a Fair Trade municipality and use their products wherever possible.
In 2017, our municipality joined the Solidarity Pact against Food Waste. We will strive to ensure that all public institutions in our municipality, including day-care, adhere to it.
Building
All ecological aspects of construction should be respected and all new municipal buildings should be built according to the principle of circular economy. To achieve this, the following points must be respected:
- The introduction of a material passport should be obligatory, i.e. all materials used should be listed here.
- All construction elements of the buildings should be degradable. Glued connections of styrofoam and plaster should be a thing of the past.
- Rainwater and grey water (shower water, washing machine water) are to be used, thus reducing drinking water consumption.
- The installation of photovoltaic modules on the roofs of the municipal buildings will become the norm.
When building, sustainable wood should be used wherever possible and concrete, known as a climate killer, should only be used where it is technically impossible to do otherwise.
The municipality should motivate its citizens to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The municipality’s existing subsidies should be adjusted.
Gravel gardens should be a thing of the past, as they promise less maintenance but are a hostile environment for animals and insects. This threatens a loss of biodiversity and such a garden additionally heats up the environment. An awareness campaign should be initiated to convince the inhabitants to rebuild their gravel gardens.
Cars and traffic
The municipality should develop a concept to make the street lighting more efficient and environmentally friendly. Today’s LED lights can be dimmed, which could save a lot of energy and costs.
The expansion of charging stations for electric mobility must continue.
Soft mobility in our municipality must be expanded and promoted. The network of bicycle paths in our municipality should be expanded and connected with the bicycle paths of neighbouring municipalities.
We welcome the fact that the CFL has installed an M-Box for bicycles at Kleinbettingen station. However, we are of the opinion that several such M-Boxes should be installed in our municipality.
We advocate that the municipality’s own vehicle fleet continues to be expanded with environmentally friendly alternatives.
Infrastructures
The interregional wastewater treatment plant should receive the planned collectors and connections as soon as possible.
We support the SICA initiative for improved selective waste management and the construction of a new recycling centre in Kehlen.
When planning and building larger multi-family residential buildings, spaces for selective waste separation must be made available, if possible.
The Steinfort DP advocates the use of regional and seasonal flowers and indigenous tree species in the planting of green spaces in the municipality.
Residents should be given the opportunity to adopt green spaces.
The orchard at Polvertuer should be preserved and further developed, and be used for educational and school purposes. Further orchards should be planned and created.
Community gardens should be realised in our municipality. There are more and more inhabitants who do not have the possibility to grow vegetables in their homes because there are no gardens. Such a garden also strengthens the integration of the inhabitants of our community.
The flood protection plan for our community must be implemented, based on the results of the investigation by the Water Management Office.
The municipality’s own forest should be managed sustainably. The forester in charge should be provided with all the necessary information and tools.
The agricultural enterprises and their farmers should be involved in future projects.
05 Schools, day-care and youth centre
Luxembourg legislation obliges the municipalities to take responsibility for the organisation, the provision of suitable school buildings and school infrastructure, and the transport of pupils.
Due to the growth of our municipality, the existing school buildings are stretched to the limit. The DP is in favour of building a school campus in Steinfort, thus gathering all classes on one campus, with the exception of the preschool and the play school classes. During the previous legislature, the then majority had purchased the land needed for this in the centre of Steinfort. The elaborated proposals of the citizens in the various working committees must be respected.
The existing school buildings in Steinfort are also to be renovated and brought up to code as required by the Ministry.
In this context, both pupil transport and the “pedibus” service must be adjusted.
The municipality must guarantee safety on our routes to school. To this end, the signposting of these routes and the pedestrian crossings should be secured and provided with adequate lighting. If necessary, the crossing guard service should be extended.
On the topic of education, the offer of forest classes should be extended in cooperation with the teaching staff. The courses offered by the forestry administration and the Mirador should also be maintained and expanded.
With regard to the increasing number of students, the DP will pay special attention to the services and quality of day-care. Day-care should also be made accessible to pupils from preschool and the kindergarten.
For the young people in our municipality, the youth centre in Hagen, run jointly with Croix Rouge and the municipality of Koerich, should continue its operations.
06 Youth and senior citizens
The extension or new construction of the intercommunal hospital, of which the municipality is the main shareholder, should finally be tackled. Through consistent work on this project, it should be ensured that the intercommunal hospital is finally adapted to modern standards.
The planning and construction of a home for the elderly should be launched, thus preventing dependence on the infrastructures of neighbouring municipalities.
A senior citizens’ association (Club Senior) should be founded and thus create an offer for age-appropriate events. This association must cooperate with existing associations across the municipality.
Offer assisted living.
The offer of different doctors should be adapted so that there are doctors of all specialities in the municipality.
Plan a multi-generation house. This means that several generations live together in one house.
The offer for young people should be improved, skating rinks, pump track, etc. should be built. There is a need to catch up, as nothing has been worked out in this area since the last elections. This should be done in consultation with the young people.
Expansion of the youth centre. As the accommodation in the old school in Hagen is only a provisional solution, work should be done to plan and build a modern youth centre.
Creation of affordable housing for young people from our community.
07 Mobility in our municipality
We will lobby the relevant authorities for bypass roads to reduce traffic through our villages.
Pavements for pedestrians should be built everywhere with safe and visible crossings so that pedestrians can walk safely through our villages.
The DP will ensure that the speed limits will be monitored through police checks on community roads but also on state roads.
We want to make it more difficult to use backroads.
We want to create shared spaces in our municipality where possible.
The DP Steinfort wants to creating safe bicycle lanes through our villages and thus create a safe connection between our villages.
The planned extension of the Park&Ride car park in Steinfort should finally be realised as well as the P&R car park in Kleinbettingen in cooperation with the CFL.
A Park&Ride car park outside the villages but close to the border is to be planned in order to banish the traffic of border crossers from the villages. Such an undertaking is only possible in cooperation with the relevant administrations and ministries.
Bus stops should be reconsidered and, if necessary, rebuilt – they should also be roofed over and illuminated.
Bus routes should be made more user-friendly.
The offer of the call bus should be reviewed and possibly extended.
Traffic regulations should be regularly adapted.
The Zaro industrial estate should be accessible by bus and also by bicycle.
08 Services and the finances of the municipality
We will work towards simplifying administrative procedures for residents by means of a “guichet unique”.
New adapted accommodation should be created for the technical services. For the workers as well as for the executives. These are to receive adapted offices. The planned hangar for the municipality’s vehicle fleet should be revised and adapted before construction.
A new rescue barracks is to be built in cooperation with the CGDIS and the relevant ministry. The municipality has taken the first steps for the purchase of a plot of land for the construction of this rescue barracks for our rescue services. Now it is important to put pressure on the responsible authorities and administrations to ensure that the planning and construction of the barracks are realised quickly.
This is all the more important as the construction of the new Steinfort hospital is directly dependent on the implementation of this project. The new hospital is to be built partly on the land currently occupied by the rescue barracks.
The debt of our municipality must be kept under closer scrutiny if we do not want to be one of the most indebted municipalities in our country.
A binding multi-year financing plan should be drawn up.
We advocate that the municipality provide an “écrivain public”. This should help people to deal with their administrative correspondence.
The opening hours of the municipal offices should be adapted to the needs of the inhabitants in order to prevent people from standing in front of closed doors or only being able to visit the municipality by appointment.
The information about the work of the municipal council should be faster and better, both in digital form and in paper form, so that interested residents can be better informed about the municipal council meetings without having to watch the whole meeting for hours.
Since the municipality is increasingly using the services of the CIGL, the municipality should also provide appropriate accommodation for this work initiative.
09 Infrastructures
Infrastructure works on our road, sewerage, water and electricity networks should be consistently pursued. The DP calls for a five-year plan to ensure the necessary renewal of the infrastructure.
The expansion of the fibre optic cable network and fast internet should be realised.
An inventory of the municipality’s buildings should be made to check the structural condition and the energetic condition of the buildings, so that these can be recorded and then targeted renovation and modernisation measures taken. This should ensure that these buildings are regularly renovated.
The existing buildings and facilities, as well as new buildings, should be made more accessible to people with disabilities.
The sports infrastructure will be expanded with the new sports centre, but the infrastructure for the football club and the tennis club must not be neglected.
The drinking water supply must be secured and a new water reservoir must be built.
A forest cemetery should be planned and realised with the responsible authorities.
The existing cemeteries should be maintained.
Our community has various halls which are used by the associations for their meetings. These halls should be upgraded and made more attractive. They should be brought up to the latest safety standards.
An improved reservation system for these halls should be set up.
Since the municipality does not have enough rooms for the associations, it should be checked which rooms could be used for this purpose. Therefore, the existing rooms should be recorded and it should be checked whether they could be better divided by renovating them.
A bicycle washing station should be set up near the bicycle path.
The climbing park and the fitness course should be kept in good condition. The purchased fitness equipment should be brought out of storage.
10 Tourism
The DP wants to work for the further development of soft tourism in our community.
This requires cooperation with the ministries and various state administrations. Equally important is the cooperation with the ORT (Office du Tourisme) Centre – West, the Leader Initiative Aischdall, the employment measure CIGL, the businesspeople, restaurateurs and hoteliers of the municipality and the local Syndicat d’initiative. Cooperation across the borders with the border region is also to be sought.
The offer of tourism-oriented activities should not only be directed at foreign tourists, but also offer incentives to the local population to explore our municipality and its surroundings.
In this context, the municipality should get more involved in the European and national Leader programmes in order to increase the attractiveness of our region.
Together with the actors of the tourism industry, we want to try to create more overnight accommodation.
We will continue to promote the expansion and networking of our cycling and hiking trails together with the stakeholders in the industry and publicise them more.
On the subject of soft tourism, we should examine the possibility of setting up a bicycle rental service in cooperation with the tourism associations, which can be easily rented without the municipality having to bear all the costs or do most of the work.
The climbing park should be consistently maintained and, if necessary, expanded.
The purchased outdoor fitness equipment should find a place in the community.
Due to the discontinuation of our campsites, it is no longer possible for tourists travelling through with mobile homes and caravans to find a place to stay overnight in our community or in the surrounding area. We will create such a possibility for three to four such vehicles in our municipality.
The history of Steinfort tells us that a youth hostel existed here a long time ago. Together with the Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Tourism we want to check whether such a facility would be appropriate and useful in our municipality in the present time.
11 Preserving our heritage
The buildings of the “Schwaarzen Haff” and everything that belongs to it must be preserved. These buildings are to be given a new purpose. The buildings must be renovated and adapted to the new purpose.
The rented buildings of the “Al Schmelz” should be made available to Start-Ups after the expiration of the rental contract. This will give the newly founded companies the opportunity to install themselves and make increase the municipalities attractiveness.
Various buildings that have been owned by the municipality for years need to be renovated from the ground up. Buildings such as the old school in Steinfort or the old school in Hagen are to be put to new uses.
A new project is to be launched to preserve the old mill of Kleinbettingen and, if necessary, to put it to a new use.
After the construction of a new additional school building in Steinfort, the school classes should be moved from Kleinbettingen to Steinfort. Subsequently, the old school building in Kleinbettingen can be given a new raison d’être, such as meeting rooms for associations.
Our heritage includes not only buildings but also nature. A cadastre should be drawn up to record the condition of the trees and to determine what needs to be done to preserve them. A multi-year reforestation plan should be drawn up to leave a healthy tree population for future generations. Trees take years to grow, so we should not wait until an old tree has died before thinking of replanting it.
12 Culture
We will make sure that the planned cultural centre is built as soon as possible. And that it is built right from the start in such a way that it is suitable for our community and the associations.
All the cultural associations in our municipality, together with the municipality, should offer a diverse range of activities for the young as well as the older citizens of our municipality.
The existing cultural centre “Al Schmelz” should be adapted to the technical requirements of modern cultural events.
A multi-year cultural plan should be drawn up to enable organisers to plan for the longer term.
Cultural events that already exist should also be continued (e.g.: Fête de la musique, theatre, jazz, etc.).