Debate, Drammen | Until MDG gained power in Drammen, nature conservation was something that took place a bit on the side of everything else

Debate post This is a debate entry, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the writer’s views.

MDG recently handed over the signatures from everyone who has signed for the protection of the nearby nature in Drammen, and who wants the 800 meters in Solbergåsen and Austadjordet on Strømsø to be preserved. The signatures were handed over to the mayor in connection with the council’s consideration of the area part of the municipal plan.

Citizens’ voice is ready, and there have been an enormous number of objections from the authorities, in addition to several comments from private individuals asking Drammen municipality to stop the mindless destruction of nature.

The municipal board

* The municipal board is the highest political governing body in Norway’s municipalities, and is elected in direct elections for four years at a time in what are known as municipal council and county council elections.

* The municipal council in Drammen municipality has 57 representatives.

* In Drammen, the four parties Høyre, Fremskrittspartiet, KrF and the Pensioners’ Party have a majority.

* Other parties with representatives in the municipal council are the Labor Party, Venstre, MDG, SV, the Center Party, Rødt, the Center Party and the Drammen INP (Industrti and Næringspartiet). There is also an independent representative in the municipal council.

* The next meeting of the municipal council in Drammen is 7 May.

Source: Great Norwegian Lexicon / DT

Before the treatment i municipal council this week, it is likely that the Conservative Party, Labor Party and Frp will step in to take some of the minor objections seriously and retain nature in some matters, and that is good, but they still want to step in to demolish most of it large forest area at 800 metres. They will negotiate with the state to protect only a little of the area. Nature conservation is obviously something that many municipal politicians think is “nice to have”, but which is not taken seriously enough when new plans are to be adopted.

Until the MDG got power in Drammen was nature conservation, something that took place a little to the side of everything else. The MDGs have ensured that nature conservation and the reduction of forests and cultivated land have been put further on the agenda. Nature’s inherent value as a resource can no longer be ignored, the framework for development must be based on nature’s tolerance limits.

MDG got in last period approval for a natural diversity plan which will map areas, all natural values and why they are important. This is being worked on now, and it is urgent to get it in place. We have a clear expectation that the plan is not just put in a drawer, but that it is followed up with both targets and measures.

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MDG wants that the governing parties in Drammen take greater responsibility for preserving the municipality’s natural areas and topsoil. That means concentrating housing construction on the already existing transformation areas that we have. Development of the large forest area in Solbergåsen will require huge natural interventions and investments in new infrastructure, roads, water and drainage. Drammen municipality cannot afford this.

These are costs to infrastructure and loss of nature that Dram’s residents have to pay for. Climate and nature should be the framework for all politics, the Labor Party has said, but what they say is one thing, what they do is another!

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Ospreys, whooper swans, cod and sea trout shoals may be losers in Drammen municipality

We have adopted local plan on “green” municipality, and we have national and international obligations. The state administrator has the authority to object when local politicians want more housing and cabin construction in untouched nature. That Drammen should now use large resources to negotiate for permission to build down these natural areas, against both its own municipal plan and national and international obligations, is absurd. The objections in these cases must be taken seriously.

Dispensations and objections is a systematic policy which does not serve either the citizens or the politicians, and which increases the differences in nature and land management. Because some gain from it, while others lose.

The framework for the whole The municipality, land, towns and cities are now included in the new spatial plan. Nature management must then also be strengthened. Drammen has many areas that have been zoned for housing, a large reserve of residential land and many unsold homes in attractive areas. The downsizing that is happening in Drammen now is not a sustainable policy. Governing and responsible politicians should take that seriously. Also in Drammen.

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