The aim of the project, which is being led by Aberdeenshire Council, is to build a framework for the sustainable development of small towns throughout Europe.
And to get the largest variety of experience, three towns each from Scotland, Sweden Poland and Greece, the four corners of Europe, were chosen to take part in the project.
Delegates from each of these countries and towns attended the Swedish conference, while more still will attend future conferences in Poland, Greece and Scotland.
All 16 Scottish delegates, from Stonehaven, Inverurie and Ellon, were given the opportunity to learn more about the Swedish government, culture and search for 'The Good Life'.
After the first day, spent learning about the various problems, strategies and visions of Swedish towns and working on the sub-topics previously identified by the working group, delegates were dispatched to their twin towns.
Those from Stonehaven remained in the first day venue of Stromstad, while the Ellon delegates visited Kungalv and the Inverurie representatives went to Amal.
Towns were twinned according to their similar experiences and problems.
Delegates spent two evenings in these towns getting to grips with their similarities, differences and generally sharing experiences and ideas.
Through this dialogue it is hoped a guide book of best practice can be drawn up for all small towns in Europe.
By attending a series of lectures, guided tours and speaking with their Swedish and Polish counterparts many of the Scottish delegates have already collated information which could be useful in the advancement of their home towns.
The Ellon Advertiser takes a look at the individual towns and how they compare to their Scottish counterparts through the eyes of the delegates who attended the conference.
THE KUNGALV EXPERIENCE:-
With a population of 38,470, Kungalv is much larger than Ellon whose population is just 9,000.
However the town is situated just 20 minutes from the major city of Gothenburg and interest in living in Kungalv and commuting to the city is increasing.
As a result the town has experienced large amounts of house building and a demise in local identity and the town centre, similar to the problems experienced by Ellon.
A high proportion of the population work in the city but live in the suburban area of Kungalv.
And like Ellon, the Kungalv administration has been looking to the future development of the town centre, business community and tourism.
Already they have regenerated the town centre with the building of a state of the art school, which is open to the public and contains a public theatre and library.
This has resulted in people remaining in the town with the creation of extra jobs and entertainment venues.
And plans exist for the enhancement of the town by building business and tourism links as well as the building of extra housing and the upgrading of a nearby major road.
Ellon community council vice chairwoman Moira Muir, who attended the conference, believes Ellon could benefit from some of the Kungalv projects.
Said Mrs Muir: "After attending the conference I think we need to work a lot more closely with our councillors as they are a lot more informal and approachable in Sweden and we have to work on this to sustain and promote Ellon."
Kungalv is one of the only areas in Sweden to boast a fort, which is situated just outside the historic town centre.
It was originally a major trading centre for the West of Sweden and memories of its heritage are found throughout the town.
She added: "The Swedish are very much into tourism and we have talked in the strategy group about what will happen when the oil boom goes, which it will one day, and I think we need to promote our own tourism.
"It is a big loss to us that we have lost the tourist information office and officers, although Ellon is inland it is a lovely place with the river and we should promote that."
In the near future Ellon are looking to build a new Academy and the community councillor believes the town should learn from the equivalent new school in Kungalv.
Commented Mrs Muir: "I was impressed with the new school in Kungalv and given that we will be building a new school in the near future it would be good if the planners can look further than this country for examples.
"The fact that the school in Kungalv had an adjoining library and theatre was really impressive and given that the Ellon school will have to last we have to look at something like that for the benefit of the community.
"Having a facility like the theatre is really good and although Ellon has the hall I think it is important that when we come to build our new school we look at something similar to what they have in Kungalv."
She added: "Kungalv has suffered similar problems to Ellon in that people have been travelling out of the town to work and I think the school has gone a long way to combating that."
Formartine Area Manager Keith Newton held a similar view and suggested that Ellon was particularly well matched to Kungalv.
He said: "The two towns are remarkably similar in terms of location and history and a lot of the Kungalv issues are similar to here.
"There are lots of similarities in terms of what we can do and there are lots of opportunities for developing Ellon in the future."
THE STROMSTAD EXPERIENCE:-
The towns of Stromstad and Stonehaven are similar in size, with a population of around 11,000 and both are situated in a coastal area with strong links to the fishing industry.
While Stonehaven is struggling to cope with the decline in the fishing industry Stromstad have already set up a strong tourism link.
Situated on the border with Norway the town attracts more than 6 million visitors every year and cross border shopping from Norway generates a turnover of around £400 million per annum.
Unlike Stonehaven there are more people travel into Stromstad for work rather than leaving the area.
After attending the conference Stonehaven business association member George McGillvray had some suggestions for the advancement of his town.
He said: "On the outskirts of Stromstad. I noticed two large camping and caravan parks with first class facilities.
"If land could be found around Stonehaven, there could be an opportunity for a private developer to create something similar here."
After hearing that Stromstad attracts almost 100,000 visitors mainly from Norway he suggested further exploitation of Stonehaven's existing tourism base which is mainly people from Aberdeen and the rest of Scotland.
Further to this in Stromstad there is only one hotel with conference facilities and those attending conferences in the hotel often make return visits as tourists.
Said Mr McGillvray: "I personally would never have though of visiting Stromstad but now I would be very keen to return for a holiday with my wife.
"This is a potential opportunity for some existing hotels in Stonehaven or a reason to attract a new hotel with conference facilities."
The creation of three large supermarkets in the centre of Stromstad and several large out of town retail parks are sustainable through the Norwegian connections.
As a result Mr McGillvray believes the idea of creating extra shopping areas should be further explored along with the possibility of attracting foreign visitors.
THE AMAL EXPERIENCE:-
A strong link between Inverurie and Amal is the towns' historical image of being a market place and their railway stations.
Amal is situated next to Europe's longest lake, and a river runs through the centre, while Inverurie is sited between two rivers.
While Amal already has a strong cultural base with the introduction of a variety of festivals, Inverurie is working on this image.
And Garioch Area Manager Ian Fowell is already speaking about developing this link between the two towns.
He said: "We have a lot of similarities with Amal like the rail history, they are heavily into culture with a variety of festivals and there are links with the market town feel which they are trying to create and promote in the town.
"We have the Maidenhead festival and the Gordon Gaitherin and I think we could make linkages there.
"There is a possibility of an Inverurie Group going to Amal for their May Festival but there are problems there with the funding."
The area manager commented on the fact that Amal have been involved in several European projects and have benefited from EU funding.
He added: "They have managed to be successful in getting funding and now have six twin towns and are involved in a number of EU projects.
"Inverurie has not had much experience in getting funding and I am hoping we can get some hints."
And he believes Amal can benefit from the Inverurie experience of creating links with other nearby towns.
"Like us they are starting to form links with other towns, a bit like us through our involvement with the towns partnership and business links and I hope we can tell them about our experience," said Mr Fowell.
The area manager was impressed with the Amal scheme to encourage people to move back to their home town.
He said: "People are very proud to live in Amal and they are working on encouraging people back once they move away.
"They are trying to promote the area as having a better quality of life, in that, it is not an expensive place to live and they have a town centre initiative to make it a nice place to live."
DELEGATES from Ellon, Inverurie and Stonehaven were at the forefront of an exciting new project looking into the sustainable development of small towns last week.
When the 16 delegates set off from Aberdeen Airport on the first leg of their journey to Sweden, little did they realise that they were also taking part in the first step of a major project aimed at improving the prospects of their town and countless others around Europe.
After enduring the 12 hour journey to their final destination of Stromstad, delegates were given half an hour to freshen up before being whisked to a local restaurant for a taste of Swedish hospitality.
This was also an opportunity to meet some of the Polish and Greek representatives who are also taking part in the INTERREG IIIC Sustaining Small Expanding Towns (SusSET) first major conference.
After a late night of socialising delegates were ready to start the first day of the conference at 8.30am, which is when many realised the extent and importance of their involvement.
A cross section of people, including politicians, young people, business people, council staff and volunteers from each of the towns were deliberately chosen to ensure there was ample opportunity for exchanging ideas.
By the end of the project in 2006 this exchange of ideas will be the foundation of a handbook which can be utilised by small towns.
It is for this reason that similar towns from all corners of Europe, and from all stages of development were brought together for the conference.
The first morning was spent looking at the problems faced by the three Swedish towns of Stromstad, Amal and Kungalv.
What struck many of the delegates from both Scotland and Poland was the similarity of the problems all are experiencing such as an increase in population and how to keep up with this in terms of infrastructure.
After a late lunch all delegates were split into different groups to discuss the seven key topics identified by the working group.
The key topics include Tourism and Town Identity; Developing Whole Town Strategy; Long Term Planning; Engagement, Dialogue, Youth; Planning, Conservation, Heritage, Identity; Partnership and Town Management and Marketing and Promotion.
After taking part in the workshops the overwhelming attitude of all involved was that they have a lot to learn from each other and many have swapped email addresses and agreed to keep in touch.
Not only this but many have agreed to feature links to all the towns on their own website as a way of promoting the areas and the project.
At the end of the day the Inverurie delegates set off for their twin town, Amal, while the Stonehaven representatives remained in Stromstad and those from Ellon were taken on the two hour drive to Kungalv near Gothenburg.
The main objective of this part of the trip was for delegates to discover more about their twin town and the Swedish way of working.
This was achieved through a series of lectures, town walks and trips and much dialogue between the various parties.
There was also the chance to discover more about the Greek and Polish towns although language and cultural problems meant the Greeks were not able to input as much.
In Sweden the Government is much less centralised with councillors having the power to raise and lower taxes according to their needs.
As a result they are able to provide facilities much more suited to their needs rather than those being set by a central government.
Fundamental differences include the right for children to access education where they want it rather than the catchment area as in Scotland.
They are able to provide quality council housing which is where the majority of people live.
The local government will provide subsidies for local businesses if it is for the good of the area as in Amal where the council run a campsite, not just because it provides jobs but because it brings people into the area.
Again in Stromstad the government support the local caravan parks and trade links with Norway as a way of bringing people into the town.
In Kungalv the town centre was regenerated by the building of a state of the art community school which includes a public library and theatre.
Through all this there was the continuous chance for delegates to speak to each other, swap ideas and make new contacts and friends.
Project manager Dr Nick Brown was delighted at the success of the conference which he said exceeded his expectations.
"All the objectives were met and more. The key objective was to find out about the Swedish approach to small towns in general and to find out about the three towns and develop the seven key themes," he said.
"I think all have been met to my satisfaction and in many cases it has been better, I know people are going away enthused and I know some have made friends and are speaking about visiting each other on a personal level and these are all nice extras."
He added: "I think the whole trip has also brought the three Scottish towns together and that can only be good for Aberdeenshire.
"I know a lot of ideas have been stimulated, heard and challenged so we are already on the way to strengthening the position of small towns.
"We have definitely raised the profile of small towns so it will be interesting to see what will happen in Poland when we go there in November.
"I am now looking forward to the next step which is developing the themes we have discussed here."
In November a similar group of delegates will take part in the next stage of the project when they visit Poland to learn more about their successes and problems.
During May 2006 there will be a conference in Greece while later in the year delegates will take part in the Scottish experience.
