Longyearbyen Local Government
Pb 350
9171 LONGYEARBYEN
Website: www.lokalstyre.no
Phone: 79022150
Fax: 79022151
Longyearbyen local government was established on January 1, 2002.
Longyearbyen local government is responsible for the infrastructure in Longyearbyen, community and area planning, financial planning, business work, statistics production, development and coordination of community services aimed at children, young people and adults, child welfare, social counseling, youth work, kindergarten services and political secretariat.
The history of the introduction of local democracy
As early as when sovereignty over Svalbard was assumed in 1925, there were proposals to make Svalbard a separate municipality or county. However, this was rejected by the Storting, which instead opted for a special administrative arrangement with a governor, appointed by the King, as the government’s highest representative.
However, the emerging détente from the late 1960s and the development of society in Longyearbyen created new and better conditions for local democratic influence, and the local Svalbard Council was established by Royal Decree of 6 August 1971. The council was to be an advisory body for the central and local public administration. The council could address issues of importance to the population of Svalbard. Towards the end of the 1970s, the council became heavily involved in local community development.
The issue of local democracy was discussed in Report No. 39 (1974-75) on Svalbard, but the government concluded that the time was not yet ripe for making Svalbard a separate county or introducing municipal self-government.
As a continuation of the local Svalbard Council, the Svalbard Council was established by Royal Decree of August 12, 1981. However, the central authorities’ attitude to local democracy changed little in the 1980s. Report No. 40 (1985-86) to the Storting on Svalbard identified a number of political, practical and financial obstacles to the development of local democracy according to the mainland model.
The rapid development on Svalbard from the end of the 1980s raised the issue of local democratic influence in Longyearbyen. In the course of the 1990s, several studies were carried out on the issue, and in 1995 the Storting, in its consideration of Document 8:85 (1994-1995), asked the government to present a model for local democracy. This was done in Report No. 9 (1999-2000) to the Storting on Svalbard, which proposed introducing local democracy in Longyearbyen according to a separate model, adapted to the local conditions and the special social structure.
As a result, Ot.prp.nr. 58 (2000-2001) Lov om endringer i svalbardloven m.m. (Lov om endringer i svalbardloven m.m. (introduktion av lokaldemokrati i Longyearbyen). This states that a new legal entity, Longyearbyen Local Council, is to be established with effect from 01.01.2002. At the same time, the Svalbard Council was discontinued.
From company town to local government
The 1970s saw the start of a trend towards building a family community in Longyearbyen. The opening of a year-round airport in 1975 was a turning point, and local infrastructure and services were developed and better adapted to a family community in line with the mainland. In 1976, the state bought out the private shareholders and turned Store Norske into a state-owned limited company.
Svalbard Samfunnsdrift AS was established at Store Norske’s board meeting on October 14, 1988. The purpose of the company was “to operate and further develop the Norwegian local communities on Svalbard”. The company was initially a wholly owned subsidiary of Store Norske. From 1993, the shares were taken over by the state through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which in turn transferred the company’s shares to Longyearbyen Local Council from January 1, 2002.
Organization
Longyearbyen local government is organized in an enterprise model where overall strategies, policy issues, overall ordering function and the exercise of authority are handled by Longyearbyen local government’s administration.
Operational tasks are carried out in three municipal enterprises – Longyearbyen local government Oppvekstforetak KF, Longyearbyen local government Kultur- og fritidsforetak KF – and Longyearbyen local government Bydrift KF.
The current organization was chosen on the basis that this was the model that:
Best satisfies the Longyearbyen community’s democratic principles and best facilitates political-strategic choices.
Best meets the requirements for efficient operation and delivery of services of high quality, on time and at the right price (high user satisfaction)
Provides the highest efficiency and least bureaucracy
Best safeguards human values such as well-being, learning, development opportunities and competence environments.
Best can strengthen the local government’s role and function in local democracy.
Longyearbyen local government’s administration is responsible for ensuring that political decisions are followed up, and must also ensure that the matters presented for political consideration are satisfactorily investigated. The administration has been delegated the authority to make decisions in cases that are not of a principled nature.
The administration is responsible for planning and building matters, maps and subdivisions, child protection, liquor licenses, follow-up of “corkage grants”, transport licenses and food supervision.
The administration is responsible for ensuring that Longyearbyen local government and its enterprises have a common personnel and organizational policy. Coordination of budget and financial planning processes, accounting and payroll services, ICT services, Info-torg and political secretariat are also assigned to the administration.
The purpose of Oppvekstforetak KF is to take care of the operation of the upbringing tasks in Longyearbyen. As a result, the company is responsible for the operation of Longyearbyen School. The school includes a primary school, upper secondary school, after-school program, cultural school and Norwegian language training for foreign-language adults and PPT services.
In addition, the company is responsible for the operation of Longyearbyen’s kindergartens. This applies to Longyearbyen kindergarten, Kullungen kindergarten and Polarflokken kindergarten.
Kultur- og fritidsforetak KF is responsible for the library, sports and swimming halls, community facilities, gallery, arts and crafts center, youth club, self-managed youth center and cinema. The main objective is to facilitate voluntary cultural work and to utilize resources so that the offer is as broad as possible in relation to age groups, interests and needs.
The role of facilitator also includes the cultural staff taking their own initiatives for various cultural initiatives with the entire population as the target group, regardless of association affiliation. The company also has its own operating technician with specialist expertise in sound and lighting, and provides modern equipment free of charge to voluntary cultural organizations or for commercial rental.
The purpose of Bydrift KF is to operate technical infrastructure in Longyearbyen. The most important areas are power and heat production/distribution, port operations, as well as water, sewage, waste disposal, roads, and fire and emergency preparedness.
In addition, the company operates family homes, dormitories and farm buildings. Also responsible for fire and emergency preparedness.
