Recruitment problems and a small professional environment mean that especially medium-sized municipalities give in to development pressure. That is the conclusion of the report “Size counts” that Menon Economics has prepared on behalf of the Academics. The explanation is that medium-sized municipalities experience strong pressure from the business world, while at the same time the professional authorities lack the muscle to “adequately inform the public authorities about the consequences of giving in to the pressure”. Small municipalities, by comparison, are not exposed to as much pressure; and larger municipalities have a stronger professional environment to maintain development interests in the island. – I wonder if we have taken into account what a challenge a lack of expertise is in the face of the climate and nature crisis, says Morten Wedege, who is the leader of the Confederation of Natural Scientists. He points out that the municipalities have been given greater responsibility for environmental and land management, but do not have the resources to handle it. – Time passes for individual cases and dispensations, instead of achieving good and wholesome spatial plans, as the law provides. The big loser will be nature, he says. This is what the report says “One explanation for why medium-sized municipalities come out particularly unlucky with this question (“To what extent do municipal leaders feel that land use in the municipality is determined by business interests, divided by municipality size”) is that municipalities experience stronger pressure from business than small ones municipalities, and to a lesser extent than large municipalities, have the competence to inform their elected representatives about the consequences of giving in to pressure. Based on these results, there is reason to believe that a competent professional environment with sufficient capacity can be a professional counterpoint to business interests. In this sense, strengthening the professional environment within spatial planning can be a targeted measure to ensure sustainable social development without local democracy being challenged.” – There is a strong need to strengthen the professional environment in the municipalities if we are to succeed in handling the nature and climate crisis. It is largely the professional community that is given the task of explaining the consequences of land policy to municipal politicians, says Morten Wedege. Photo: Ådne Sandvik Dyrnesli / news – A lot of pressure to create economic activity In February, news reported that 18 new cabins were built every single day in 2022, and that this is a new record. Several made a point that the pace of development was on a “complete collision course” with the UN nature agreement to protect 30 per cent of nature. Bjørn P. Kaltenborn, who is a senior researcher at NINA, identified the original sin in that the decisions are at the municipal level – “where there is a lot of pressure to create economic activity”. – Strong market forces combined with a political regime that does not want national governance makes it look rather dark, he said. Corresponding findings were made by the Generalist Municipal Committee, which presented its report in April. In the conclusion, it is stated that competence and capacity are a “main challenge” for the municipal sector, and that no Norwegian municipality is able to solve all 220 tasks (see below) that they are charged with providing to their citizens. Important municipal tasks The municipality is responsible for ensuring that the residents of the municipality receive basic welfare benefits such as schooling, kindergarten, social assistance, child protection, medical assistance and nursing homes. All 220 tasks are listed here. Important municipal tasks: Teaching kindergarten primary school after-school program (SFO) special education Health health and social care primary health care home care and nursing home care for the elderly and nursing homes health care for the mentally retarded social care Transport and technical tasks local roads water, sewerage and garbage fire and sweeping services management and planning authority local environmental protection Culture and leisure churches and churchyards leisure clubs culture school folk library source: ung.no In February, news reported that 18 new cabins were built every single day in 2022, and that this is a new record. Photo: Aleksandr Nedbaev / news – There are major challenges with recruitment – There is no doubt that tasks that require specialized professional expertise are particularly challenging in many municipalities, says political scientist Jan Erling Klausen, who was a member of the Generalist Municipal Committee. He says the problem is particularly precarious in municipalities that cannot offer full positions or a larger professional environment. – We therefore recommended an active policy for amalgamation, and investing more in inter-municipal cooperation. In 2014, a similar report on the competence challenges was prepared at the request of KS. KS director Helge Eide recommends more cooperation across the municipalities to help the small and medium-sized ones. He has less to spare for proposals to let the county council or the state take over responsibility for nature. – We are fundamentally critical of that. Shifting the responsibility away from the democratic actor who is closest to the citizens is a bad idea. He adds that most of the country’s inhabitants “despite everything” live in municipalities that are large enough to house a large and attractive professional environment. – Norway recently led the way in the work to negotiate the Nature Agreement in Montreal. Ambitions must then be followed up at home, says Morten Wedege. Photo: Jon Frogner The government comes with a district report Today’s action plan for natural diversity (“Nature for life”) was adopted by the Storting in 2015. In February, the government announced that they are starting work on a new national nature plan. The work was funded by the UN Nature Convention, which was signed last Christmas. According to the government, the agreement makes it urgent to “update management and combat the causes of degradation and weathering of the ecosystem”. State Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and District Affairs, Sigrun Wiggen Prestbakmo (Sp), tells news that they are working to increase expertise in the municipalities and that “good spatial planning is absolutely decisive in the face of climate change and to prevent the degradation of nature”. She adds that “an aggressive climate policy and an aggressive district policy must go hand in hand”. – That is why we will soon be putting forward our own district report for the Storting. We also come with our own climate statement and a statement about climate adaptation. Menon has asked to what extent business interests determine land use. Medium-sized municipalities in particular come out somewhat badly here, and Menon explains this by saying that medium-sized municipalities experience stronger pressure than small municipalities, and to a lesser extent have the resources to inform public authorities about the consequences of giving in to development pressure. Photo: Håvard Nyhus
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Medium-sized municipalities reinforce the natural crisis – news Vestland
