Vågan is revising the land-use plan, and Strauman needs to keep up.

The municipal master plan's land-use section is under revision. That sounds dry, but it isn't. It's about whether Strauman can build new houses for those who want to move home, whether the neighbour can put up a boathouse, whether anyone dares to start a business in Strauman, or whether you end up in a dispensation process every single time someone wants to lift a finger.

What is actually happening?

Vågan municipality has put the planning programme for the municipal master plan's land-use section 2027–2040 out for public consultation. The planning programme is not the plan itself, but it is the recipe for how the municipality will create the plan. Which areas are to be examined. What is to be assessed. Which principles are to apply.

And it is now, before the plan itself is drawn up, that Strauman has the greatest opportunity to influence it.

Once the plan is finished, the train has largely left the station.

Why does this concern you in Strauman?

The municipality has posed a very concrete question for public input:

"In the current land-use section, a large amount of scattered development of housing, cabins and site-bound business has been allowed. This applies, among others, to the Laupstad area, Digermulen, Skrova, Ørsvågvær, Lyngvær, Gimsøy and Laukvik. In the new land-use section, these areas must be reviewed with regard to new guidelines concerning, among other things, societal safety, the shoreline zone and protection of farmland."

What the municipality is saying is: We are going to consider whether you should be allowed to continue building as easily as you can today, or whether we should tighten things up.

If no one says anything now, tightening up will win. That is the easiest direction for a municipality to take when the county governor, county council and directorates are watching closely on farmland protection, the shoreline zone and biodiversity.

What is at stake?

Concretely:

  • New homes
    Will young people who want to move home be allowed to put up a house in the village, or will they have to apply for a dispensation for two years?
  • Cabins and holiday homes
    Will families who own property here be allowed to build, or will it be closed off to anything new?
  • Boathouses
    Will you be allowed to put up or extend a boathouse, or will the shoreline zone be locked down even harder?
  • Business
    Will fish farms, entrepreneurs, agriculture, carpenters and tourism have room to grow, or will they have to relocate?
  • The school
    Growth at Strauman community and early-childhood centre. That won't happen unless people are actually allowed to build, live and establish themselves here.

The last point is the important one. The school stands or falls on the village growing. And the village will not grow if it is impossible to build.

What is the problem with the current situation?

Much of Strauman lies in what is called an LNFR area – agriculture, nature, outdoor recreation and reindeer husbandry. In LNFR areas, the main rule is that you cannot build anything other than what belongs directly to the farm or to nature. If you want to build a home or a commercial building, you must either:

  1. Apply for a dispensation (takes time, costs money, can be refused by the county governor), or
  2. Draw up your own zoning plan (takes even more time, costs much more money)

Both are a barrier. Especially for ordinary people and small businesses.

There is a better solution, and it already exists in the law: the land-use designation "LNFR scattered development" (Planning and Building Act § 11-7 no. 5 letter b). If the municipality uses this in Strauman, and at the same time sets out concrete provisions on how much, where and what type of buildings are permitted, then building applications can be processed as ordinary building cases, without dispensation, without a zoning plan.

That is a measure Strauman should consider.

What does the municipality need to hear now?

Here are some principles the municipality should base its work on for Strauman:

1. Predictability, not dispensation. Let building cases be processed as building cases. Use the LNFR scattered development designation with concrete provisions, as the law envisages.

2. Densification within the existing hamlet. New buildings should be located in connection with existing development and infrastructure. This is both good use of resources and good stewardship of the landscape.

3. A differentiated shoreline zone, not a general ban. Much of Strauman lies close to the sea. That does not mean everything must be frozen. Land further back and already developed areas must be able to be developed, while untouched shoreline areas are protected.

4. Year-round housing first. If the village is to live, people must live here all year round. Year-round homes must be prioritised in the core areas.

5. Boathouses as a separate category. Clear provisions on size and placement, so people know what they can and cannot do.

6. Farmland protection as a firm framework. Don't build on cultivated land. That sets clear boundaries, and there will be less quarrelling with the county governor.

7. Societal safety solved with consideration zones, not a general building ban. Landslide and flood risk are handled where there actually is a danger, not by locking down the entire hamlet.

8. Adaptation to building tradition. Perhaps it isn't a modern "urban style" Strauman wants? It is perhaps more that what is built fits in where it is put up, without rigid guidelines.

9. Business and housing together. It should be possible to run a business from the village. A thriving rural community has a good balance between year-round homes, holiday homes and business.

10. Set figures that actually make a difference. If the municipality only allows "a few" homes during the planning period, we will end up back in the dispensation trap in two years. The figures must be large enough to cover real demand. As for the argument that not "much" has been built recently, everyone in Strauman knows the reason for that.

The current land-use plan can be found here, and the map is here.

What do you do now?

There are two things you can do, and you should do both:

1. Submit your own input directly to the municipality.

It goes to postmottak@vagan.kommune.no. You don't need to write a dissertation. Half a page is enough, in which you:

  • State who you are and where you live
  • State what you think about development in Strauman
  • List the principles above that you agree with
  • Optionally request that a specific property (cadastral/title number) be included in the assessment

2. The village council

Strauman has a village council. It has already been heavily involved in the school case, and is the natural channel for uniting the village around a joint input to the land-use plan. An input signed by Strauman village council on behalf of the village carries an entirely different weight than 15 individual letters saying roughly the same thing.

Suggest that the association:

  • Puts the land-use plan on the agenda at the next meeting
  • Drafts a joint consultation response
  • Asks the municipality for a dedicated public meeting in Strauman during the participation phase (the planning programme announces public meetings in the population centres, so the basis is there)
  • Invites politicians out for an on-site visit. Let them get to know the district.

Timeline

  • Done:
    The planning programme is out for consultation. The deadline for input is short. Check vagan.kommune.no. The planning programme is adopted politically. Then the framework is set.
  • Spring–autumn 2026:
    The plan itself is drawn up, with participation and public meetings.
  • Winter 2027:
    The plan proposal is presented politically.
  • Spring–summer 2027:
    Consultation on the plan itself.
  • Autumn 2027:
    Adoption.

There are two participation windows. Now is the first, and the most important one. It is now that the framework is laid down.

Stay on the ball!

People have moved to Strauman, which has a school, a kindergarten and businesses with a strong spirit of volunteering and people who care.

That deserves a planning framework that lets the village live.

Submit your input. Talk to your neighbour, get input sent in from the association and individually.

Don't wait until the plan is adopted and then wonder why you aren't allowed to build on your own plot.

Input is sent to postmottak@vagan.kommune.no. You can find more about the planning programme at vagan.kommune.no.

This is an opinion piece, written by an external contributor. The piece expresses the writer's views.