– There will be several detached houses and terraced houses here. It is close to the city and close to hiking areas. I think it will be an attractive place to live when it is finished. Mayor of Time municipality, Andreas Vollsund from Høgre, shows us what will become a new district in Bryne. It was here that the first farm in Bryne was located. And there was farming for almost 500 years, until around the year 2000. Now the green fields, which the Jærbow call the fields, have turned into big brown piles of soil. – We need the residents. We have free capacity at all the schools, the mayor says. In total, there are around 70 acres of cultivated land in this area, which according to the plan will become new housing estates in the coming years. – This is an area in the middle of the city. And then I think it is right to expand. It is difficult to run agriculture in the middle of a city, says Vollsund. Brynebyen is located in the middle of an area with good fertile soil. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Growing in the middle of the food dish The town of Bryne is located in the middle of the food dish on Jæren. And in the three Jær municipalities Klepp, Time and Hå, the population has increased from 40,000 to 60,000 in 25 years. At the same time, these are municipalities where large parts of the area are arable land. Take, for example, Klepp. 60 per cent of the area in the municipality is fully cultivated land, compared to just under 3 per cent nationally. The desire for growth therefore often comes into conflict with the desire for protection in this region. – We cannot continue to grow as we have done in recent years. Here I have some of the best topsoil. And Norway cannot afford to lose it, says municipal council representative for SV i Time, Beate Aasen Bøe. And in the future, protection may come to trump growth to a greater extent. Beate Aasen Bøe in SV i Time does not want more farmland in Bryne to be demolished. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Want stricter soil conservation targets – The war in Ukraine is a sure sign that we must increase Norwegian food production. That’s according to the parliamentary representative for the Center Party, Geir Pollestad. He believes that self-sufficiency must increase. The government recently came up with its proposal for an updated soil conservation strategy. There they come with new measures and a stricter soil protection target. – This will mean that it will be almost impossible to get housing and industry built on cultivated land, if we are to achieve the goal, says Pollestad. Since 1949, approximately 1.2 million acres of cultivated and arable land have been reallocated to various development purposes in Norway. Geir Pollestad is a parliamentary representative for the Center Party. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news On this area, food for 400,000 people could have been produced, according to Nibio. In recent years, the focus on soil conservation has become greater. In 2015, the Storting adopted a goal that no more than 4,000 decares of cultivated land should be reallocated, or opened up for building down, annually. Now the Government is proposing to reduce the figure to 2,000 decares annually and that the target should be reached by 2030. And then Pollestad believes that it will probably not be possible to build houses on topsoil. – I hope not. It is no use building a lot of houses in Norway on arable land, if in the future we are not able to supply the population who will live in these houses with food, says Pollestad. – But they don’t go for a zero vision goal? – It is because in the future we will also need to take some agricultural land for roads, railways, airports and other common functions. The proposal for an updated soil conservation strategy will now be considered by the Storting. Bryne and Time municipality will grow, says the mayor. But what will growth come at the expense of? Protection of topsoil, both the government and SV believe. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Worsening to demolish Last year it was opened for demolishing around 3,650 acres of cultivated land in Norway. Rogaland alone accounted for 900 acres, or almost half of what may become the new national target. The speech was particularly bad last year, because a new E39 is to be built, but the so-called food district has been the worst several times. Anfinn Rosnes is assistant director of agriculture at the State Administrator in Rogaland. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news – There are a lot of people in a small area in Rogaland. And many of the people live in the middle of the dinner plate, says Anfinn Rosnes. He is assistant director of agriculture at the State Administrator in Rogaland. – We have to think differently about how we are going to grow in this region if we are to manage to save the land. – We don’t have space for a single terraced house or detached house with two or three people in Flat-Jæren, it would be too much waste of space, he says. Rosnes is clear that it will be more difficult for the municipalities to be allowed to build on arable land in the future if the targets are tightened, and this will also apply to areas that the municipalities have previously included in long-term plans. Figures published by Statistics Norway in 2022 showed that nationally there are around 83,000 acres of agricultural land that is included in municipal plans and that could potentially be built on in the long term. The municipality thinks the growth is needed – If you had said no to everything, then you would not have got any new houses, you would have blown up the housing market and the prices. And you had to significantly reduce the quality of the services to the residents, says the mayor in Time, Andreas Vollsund. At Brynehaugen, the excavators continue their work. It is over 20 years since it was opened so that the site where the first farm at Bryne was located could become a new residential area. Nearby, a new youth school was just built, also on cultivated land. But all of this lies within what is called the long-term boundary for agriculture, which was adopted by the county council back in 2000. The boundary runs like a ring around the center of Bryne and much of the land inside has been opened up for development in the long term, but now it can it will be more difficult to get permission to build here too. Mayor of Time, Andreas Vollsund stands with the large piles of soil that have been dug up. It must be moved and used elsewhere. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news – It is too crazy that we should not be able to use an area that is in the middle of the city, next to all infrastructure, schools, kindergartens, railways. Therefore, I think it is absolutely right to build inside and out, as we do here, says Vollsund. – 3 percent of Norway is arable land, we have 97 percent of the rest of the country where we can build both industry and housing. So the thinking that we have to build where it is cheapest and easiest, we have to put an end to it, says Pollestad, who himself is from Jæren. – And what about municipalities on Jæren that want to grow? – Then they have to look for areas that have not been cultivated. Or let it grow. Those are the two alternatives they have. The stone garden is still standing, but the topsoil here at Brynehaugen will now be turned into housing estates. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news
ttn-69
The government wants stricter soil conservation targets – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
