DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL URBAN SETTLEMENTS: NORMATIVE AND LEGAL ASPECT

The legal base for the social and economic development of small urban settlements as a theoretical and methodological basis for ensuring sustainable social and economic development has been studied in the article. The criteria for their delimitation into categories "small urban settlements" have been defined, including such types of settlements as urban-type settlements and small towns. Differences in normative legal acts for individual administrative-territorial units have been determined and the need for harmonizing the criteria for classifying settlements as "urban-type settlements" and "villages" in one or another category has been noted. To resolve this contradiction, proposals for improving legislation have been substantiated, it has been proposed to rename the urban-type settlements to towns. The legislative acts that determined the strategic development goals and the monitoring procedure for the main indicators of the development of small urban settlements have been studied. In connection with the reform of local self-government and territorial structure, the normative and legal aspect of the development of small urban settlements as components of the united territorial communities has been characterized. The changes in the legislation regarding the financial provision of territorial communities have been characterized, the sources of filling local budgets have expanded, and it has become one of the main prerequisites for the formation of the financial independence of small urban settlements. To ensure the identification of the category "small urban settlements," the characteristics and role of such settlements in the development of the state, it has been determined that the Law of Ukraine "On the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine" needs to be adopted, the draft of which is still being developed. At the same time, it has been established that the legal and regulatory support for the development of small urban settlements as constituent parts of the united territorial communities in Ukraine requires further improvement.