Bjørnafjorden (municipality)

Bjørnafjorden kommune
Bjørnafjorden kommune
Municipality
	View of Os in Bjørnafjorden
	Coat of arms Vestland within ; Norway
	Bjørnafjorden within Vestland
	Coordinates: 60°11′44″N 5°37′20″E / 60.19547°N 5.62225°ECoordinates: 60°11′44″N 5°37′20″E / 60.19547°N 5.62225°E
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Midhordland
Established	1 Jan 2020
• Preceded by	Fusa and Os
Administrative centre	Osøyro
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Trine Lindborg (Ap)
Area
• Total	517.40 km2 (199.77 sq mi)
• Land	487.21 km2 (188.11 sq mi)
• Water	30.19 km2 (11.66 sq mi) 5.8%
• Rank	#205 in Norway
Population (2022)
• Total	25,213
• Rank	#47 in Norway
• Density	51.7/km2 (134/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+17.1%
Demonym	Bjørnafjording
Official language
• Norwegian form	Nynorsk
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4624
Website	Official website
	Data from Statistics Norway

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.^[3]

The 517-square-kilometre (200 sq mi) municipality is the 205th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Bjørnafjorden is the 47th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 25,213. The municipality's population density is 51.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (134/sq mi) and its population has increased by 17.1% over the previous 10-year period.^[4]^[5]

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 when the municipalities of Os and Fusa were merged.^[3]

Name

The municipality is named after the local fjord: Bjørnafjorden.^[3]

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.^[3]

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
Os	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.^[6] The municipality falls under the Hordaland 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 ^[7]*
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

Notable people

Terje Soviknes,2010

Haldor Johan Hanson (1856 in Fusa – 1929), an American hymn writer, publisher and author
Nils Tveit (1876 in Os – 1949), a Norwegian politician, Mayor of Os 1916 to 1940
Ragnvald Indrebø (1891 in Os – 1984), a Norwegian Lutheran Bishop of Bjørgvin
Mons Haukeland (1892 in Os – 1983), a Norwegian gymnastics teacher and military officer
Harald Slåttelid (1895 in Os – executed 1943), a trade unionist, newspaper editor and communist resistance member
Pål Sundvor (1920 in Fusa – 1992), journalist, novelist, children's writer, poet and playwright.
Trine Linborg (born 1965 in Os), a politician, mayor of Os^[8]
Terje Søviknes (born 1969), a politician, former mayor of Os & former Minister of Petroleum and Energy
Olve Eikemo (born 1973), stage name Abbath a black metal musician, grew up in Lysefjorden
Maya Vik (born 1980), singer, songwriter and bass player, brought up in Os
Marius Neset (born 1985 in Os), a Norwegian jazz saxophonist
Ingrid Søfteland Neset (born 1992 in Os), an award-winning Norwegian classical flautist
Boy Pablo (born 1998), musician, grew up in Bergen and later in Os; real name Nicolas Muñoz.^[9]

Sport

Kjersti Plätzer (born 1972 in Os), a race walker, twice silver medallist at the 2000 & 2008 Summer Olympics
Egil Gjelland (born 1973), a former biathlete, team gold medallist at the 2002 Winter Olympics lives in Skjelbreid in Fusa
Liv Grete Skjelbreid (born 1974 in Fusa), a biathlete, silver medallist at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Bjørn Dahl (born 1978 in Os), a retired footballer with almost 300 club caps
Bjarte Haugsdal (born 1990 in Os), a football player with over 250 club caps
Sverre Lunde Pedersen (born 1992 in Os), a speed skater,^[10] son of Jarle Pedersen and two-time World Junior Champion

References

^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Thorsnæs, Geir. "Bjørnafjorden". In Bolstad, Erik (ed.). Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Norsk nettleksikon. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
^ Statistisk sentralbyrå. "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).
^ Statistisk sentralbyrå. "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).
^ Hansen, Tore, ed. (12 May 2016). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
^ "Tall for Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2019 - Vestland". Valg Direktoratet. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
^ "Trine Lindborg er ordførar i Bjørnafjorden kommune - Bjørnafjorden kommune". bjornafjorden.kommune.no. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
^ Olsen, Benjamin Søgnen (6 January 2017). "Merk deg namnet: Boy Pablo" [Name to note: Boy Pablo]. Os og Fusaposten (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 31 August 2020.
^ "Babylykke for Sverre Lunde Pedersen". www.aftenposten.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 3 May 2021.

[1] "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.

[2] "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.

[snl-3] Thorsnæs, Geir. "Bjørnafjorden". In Bolstad, Erik (ed.). Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Norsk nettleksikon. Retrieved 2 January 2020.

[ssb_pop-4] Statistisk sentralbyrå. "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).

[ssb_area-5] Statistisk sentralbyrå. "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).

[ks-6] Hansen, Tore, ed. (12 May 2016). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 5 February 2020.

[7] "Tall for Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2019 - Vestland". Valg Direktoratet. Retrieved 2 February 2020.

[8] "Trine Lindborg er ordførar i Bjørnafjorden kommune - Bjørnafjorden kommune". bjornafjorden.kommune.no. Retrieved 3 May 2021.

[:OsMove-9] Olsen, Benjamin Søgnen (6 January 2017). "Merk deg namnet: Boy Pablo" [Name to note: Boy Pablo]. Os og Fusaposten (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 31 August 2020.

[10] "Babylykke for Sverre Lunde Pedersen". www.aftenposten.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 3 May 2021.

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