Debate, Drammen | Only a ban will preserve Drammen’s largest outdoor recreation area

Drammensmarka, and they most other open air areas outside the construction zone are today defined as so-called LNF areas (agricultural, nature and open air areas). This means that the main purpose of these areas is precisely outdoor recreation, conservation of nature and agriculture, and it is in principle not permitted to set up new buildings or carry out other major natural interventions that reduce the value of the area in relation to this goal.

In addition, have Drammensmarka has also received additional protection in the subcategory “site-bound industry”, which means that it is also not permitted to grant individual applications for residential, leisure or business development apart from “agriculture and reindeer husbandry and farm-related business activities based on the farm’s resource base”.

This area purpose will be continued in the new spatial plan, which is currently “in the blue” due to objections from, among others, state administrators and the Norwegian Road Administration.

For exactly one years ago, the municipal council adopted “Drammen Municipality’s climate strategy 2030”. Under the point concerning climate-smart land use, it states, among other things, that “… In Drammen, we will emphasize safeguarding carbon-rich areas and facilitate the absorption of carbon in bogs, forests and soils…” One of the priority measures for this should be to “limit the build-up of natural carbon stores such as bogs, forests and agricultural areas.”

So far so Good. And at the end of the previous term, the majority in the municipal council asked that the director of the municipality should come back to us with a case about land law. The municipal director did so in the last chairman’s meeting, but SV is concerned that what is proposed is not offensive enough. Together with V and MDG, we are advocating for a land law because neither Drammensmarka’s defined boundaries nor the area purpose are legally binding.

Can’t we a legally binding land law, future municipal councils will have the opportunity to change the nature conservation described above, and slowly but surely “eat up” the area, as has been seen in examples throughout municipal Norway through NRK’s ​​revelations and in the mini-series “Oppsynsmannen”.

On top of nor do we have any guarantee that all the interventions that are made or have been made in connection with the location-bound industry have been absolutely necessary and with minimal consequences. Then we also have so-called border areas and gray areas where permits are constantly granted that probably should not have been granted.

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If we get incorporating the Drammensmarka in the areas regulated by the Land Marks Act will mean a halt to all downsizing and development, with the exception of small natural interventions that are assumed to increase the quality of the area for outdoor activities, such as hiking trails and ski slopes. At the same time, the municipality will receive state support to preserve natural diversity and cultural monuments in the area, so that we save municipal funds for maintenance.

Drammen SV has zero tolerance for the degradation of nature and topsoil, and believes that restricting the municipality’s room for action in Drammensmarka will be a small price to pay to ensure that Drammen’s largest outdoor recreation area remains a green lung that contributes to less pollution and better public health for the residents for the foreseeable future.

That’s why we say: Markalov now!

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