– It is hopeless, says William Jonas Myhre, who has been waiting for a total of six years to get an answer to his building application. When he and his wife found a house on Tåtøy that they thought was charming, they wanted to move to Kragerø to enjoy their old age here. The house turned out to be in too bad a condition, but it was not worthy of preservation and they were allowed to demolish it. Since then they have been waiting for permission to build a new house. William Jonas Myhre started the process of moving to Kragerø six years ago, but is still waiting. Photo: Kurt Inge Dale / news – The process has been painful for us as a family, and expensive. I am now six years older and have been retired for several years. Now they have given up this house for themselves. They have waited too long. – If we are very lucky, we can start building next spring and maybe be finished by Christmas. But we have become too old, quite simply. Hundreds in line The politicians in the chairmanship in Kragerø recently received this situation report about the construction case department in the summer paradise: Two hundred cases about possible illegal construction have not been investigated. Many of the cases concern construction in the beach zone. Nearly eight hundred construction cases have not been processed, with some cases as much as ten years old. There are almost no employees left to follow up the cases. Many residents, cottagers and developers have been waiting for months and years to get an answer as to whether they will be allowed to build a new house or set up a new extension to the cottage. Earlier in August, the local newspaper KV reported that there was only one employee left in the entire construction department who had not submitted a notice of resignation. In the course of two and a half years, 15 employees have left the department. Between the two planning and building managers. – A huge problem Municipal director in Kragerø, Dag Willien Eriksen, regrets that people have to wait a long time. He confirms that the case at Tåtøy has taken a long time. – This case has had an unusually long processing time, and it is a sum of many circumstances that make it as crazy as it has become. The reason is, among other things, a change of case manager, a change in the regulations and the fact that a desire for changes to the house has triggered new applications. Municipal director Dag Willien Eriksen in Kragerø says they will get more employees involved in a charity to deal with construction issues. Photo: Kurt Inge Dale / news – There are at least 300 to 400 cases that are quite precarious and have been pending for a long time. In addition, new cases are constantly coming in. It has become a huge problem. Eriksen says that over time they have worked to get more employees in the construction department, but that the employees are attractive to private and other municipalities. So the municipality struggles to be competitive. He hopes the advertisements they have out now will lead to more employees in a short time. He says no issues have been put aside or forgotten, and that they will resolve the situation with the external environment and their own efforts. – We strongly believe that within six months we will have much better control of the situation than we have had. – Will Kragerø break the law now? – Yes, we do that differently. We currently have so little staff that we are unable to respond to all the messages we receive. Waiting for answers in 100 cases At Arkitekthuset Kragerø, they are well aware of the crisis in the municipality’s construction department. They are waiting for answers from the municipality in a hundred cases. Some of the cases have been pending for two years, says daily manager David Løffler. – It is a long time compared to the 16-week processing time, he points out. David Løffler, day-to-day manager at Arkitekthuset Kragerø, says the application queue makes planning difficult. Photo: Kurt Inge Dale / news The architect thinks it is a problem because it makes it difficult to plan for the future. – People have to wait a long time in both residential and commercial matters, and it is a nightmare for the development of society, says Løffler. – Free to go The chairmanship in Kragerø demands that an independent investigation of the working environment among current and former employees in the construction department be carried out as soon as possible. They also want more urgent measures and ask the director of the municipality to consider introducing an interim ban on dispensations for cabins in the beach zone. Head of the main committee for planning and building, Henriette Fluer Vikre (Frp), believes that there are illegal cases within the 100 meter belt, and that nothing is being done. – That is right. We have many cases that have not been distributed. Henriette Fluer Vikre (Frp) says it is free when the municipality does not follow up on possible illegal cases. Photo: Per Stian Johnsen / Per Stian Johnsen She says there have been messages from people all summer, who try to be law-abiding and submit applications. At the same time, they see that the neighbor is building without them having received any neighbor notification. – It is not surprising, because we have no follow-up of illegal cases in the municipality. When we have it, it is preventive. But when we don’t have it, it’s free. The municipality has now advertised for a position of its own to follow up on illegal construction, but municipal director Dag Willien Eriksen says staffing is now so low that they must prioritize ordinary construction cases and illegal cases that come up during processing. – However, we haven’t had time to deal with it. At the same time, the messages we receive are about possible illegal cases and not actual illegal cases. It takes a long time to follow these up.
ttn-69
Construction chaos in Kragerø – almost a thousand cases in the queue – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
