Bjørnafjorden (municipality)

Bjørnafjorden is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Midhordland region of the county. The administrative centre of Bjørnafjorden is the village of Osøyro. Other villages in the municipality include Eikelandsosen, Fusa, Holdhus, Holmefjord, Vinnes, Strandvik, Sundvord, Hagavik, Halhjem, Søfteland, Søre Øyane, and Søvik.[2]

Bjørnafjorden kommune
Municipality
View of Os in Bjørnafjorden
Coat of arms Vestland within Norway
Bjørnafjorden within Vestland
Coordinates: 60.19547°N 5.62225°E / 60.19547; 5.62225
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Midhordland
Established	1 Jan 2020
Administrative centre	Osøyro
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Trine Lindborg (Ap)
Area
• Total	517.41 km^2 (199.77 sq mi)
• Land	487.22 km^2 (188.12 sq mi)
• Water	30.19 km^2 (11.66 sq mi)  5.8%
Area rank	205 in Norway
Population  (2020)
• Total	24,908
• Rank	46 in Norway
• Density	51.1/km^2 (132/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	21.5%
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4624
Official language form	Nynorsk[1]
Website	bjornafjorden.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

The 517-square-kilometre (200 sq mi) municipality is the 205th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Bjørnafjorden is the 46th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 24,908. The municipality's population density is 51.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (132/sq mi) and its population has increased by 21.5% over the previous 10-year period.[3][4]

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Os and Fusa were merged.[2]

Name

The municipality is named after the local fjord: Bjørnafjorden.[2]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms for Bjørnafjorden was adopted in 2019. The blue arms show a gold boat with two curved gold waves beneath it. The waves symbolize the water, but the curved design alludes to rosemaling designs and the local Giant's kettles in Koldal in the municipality.[2]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Bjørnafjorden. It is part of the Fana prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Churches in Bjørnafjorden

Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Fusa	Fusa Church	Fusa	1961
	Holdhus Church	Holdhus	1726
	Hålandsdal Church	Eide in Hålandsdal	1890
	Strandvik Church	Strandvik	1857
	Sundvor Church	Sundvord	1927
Os	Os Church	Osøyro	1870
	Nore Neset Church	Hagavik	2000

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Bjørnafjorden, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor.[5] The municipality falls under the Bergen District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Bjørnafjorden is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Bjørnafjorden Kommunestyre 2020–2023 [6]  

Party Name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	8
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	12
	Green Party (Miljøpartiet Dei Grøne)	3
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	5
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	1
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	5
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	1
Total number of members:		35

References

1. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
2. Thorsnæs, Geir. "Bjørnafjorden". In Bolstad, Erik (ed.). Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Norsk nettleksikon. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
3. Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).
4. Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).
5. Hansen, Tore, ed. (2016-05-12). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
6. "Tall for Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2019 - Vestland". Valg Direktoratet. Retrieved 2020-02-02.