Sit down and shut up, VOLLSKOGEN HAS BEEN DECIDED!
Submitted by: Martin Løken, MDG Deputy Mayor in Ås (for three more weeks)
Illustrator: Anna Bjørke
Translator: Vegard Sjaastad Hansen
Sit down and shut up, VOLLSKOGEN HAS BEEN DECIDED!
The students are affected by the politics in Ås municipality: the municipal board’s 33 representatives decide whether the Health Center for Youth and Students should maintain its offer, whether the Kinnsåsen cabin at Årungen should be rented out with a student discount, and whether Pentagon’s nearby nature, Vollskogen, should be demolished. As a beginners’ course, we can say that politics is about counting. 17 votes in Ås Municipal Council means approval, while 16 votes mean a loss.
In the election, Senterpartiet (SP) got the famous and powerful tipping point, and that is with only two mandates. Venstre (V) and MDG were, in a sense, also on the verge, but not completely. They were very reluctant to enter into cooperation with FrP.
In the first negotiation meeting in the rainbow alliance (Ap, SV, MDG, SP, V, R, and Partiet Sentrum), SP put forward a desire for the post of Deputy Mayor, while we in MDG thought we needed to be able to talk about the construction plans in Vollskogen in the negotiations. It was out of the question for Venstre, who believed that we already had a decision and that the matter was “settled”. I have heard this statement often, yes, I have even heard of lecturers at NMBU, who say that Vollskogen is “settled”.
In 2015, I sat in the Elverum Municipal Council as a fresh municipal council representative. There I saw regulatory plans sail through the municipal council meetings, completely without debate. When I objected, the old trotters said that I was either “too early” or that I was “too late”. According to them, there was never a good time to speak out against a natureconsuming plan. I was later to learn that for them, growth was a built-in premise, and sub-urbanism - a hallowed tradition. It took the form of a great love for cars and singular houses, and more new nature had to be built down to satisfy the hunger
Out of pure longing for knowledge, I packed my luggage and went to the Agrarian Metropole Ås to arm myself with knowledge in the fight for living nature and a liveable climate (maybe some of you recognize yourself here?) through a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning. I learned about the brutal consequences suburbanism (urban sprawl) has on climate and nature. But most importantly: I learned that I had been deceived.
An area is usually first allocated for building purposes in the municipal plan. In some cases, a planning program and an area zoning plan are also adopted, then the detailed zoning plan undergoes a first and a second processing (and sometimes this also goes through several rounds!). But a zoning plan cannot be considered adopted before final processing, in other words, the last decisive decision by the municipal council. What the politicians are really saying is “don’t disturb us, we’ve already made up our minds!” It is ominous, because between initial processing and final processing, the politicians receive consultation input. So, what you are then saying is that you are not interested in listening to the citizens.
When I learned this, I got confused. Do growth-oriented politicians say that plans have been “adopted” because they themselves do not know better? Or do they deliberately spread misinformation so that people sit quietly in the boat, discouraging them so that the growth machine can continue undaunted? While we think we cannot do anything, suburbia continues to spread. Any forests in the greater Oslo area that are not mentioned in the Land Act are not safe. Real estate developers and car dealership owners can constantly congratulate each other. Large homes are to be filled with things, and motoring is suffocating small communities and pushing forward so-called “Big Boxes” outside the towns. Not only Vollskogen is at stake: We can give up reaching the goals in the Montreal Agreement, of 30% nature conservation on land and at sea, and the goal of 55% climate reduction we have committed to in the Paris Climate Agreement, when we have a land policy such as this. Nature releases a lot of carbon when it is built down, and it binds a lot of carbon when it is left to stand.
Back to the situation in Ås: Venstre is saying that this has been decided, and for them it is more important to build down a forest than to prevent the FrP from taking power. Couldn’t we shrink the development to the western part of the forest? Couldn’t we keep more nature and limit the noise nuisance? No, no and no. In this deadlocked situation, Senterpartiet joins the Høyre (H), FrP and the Industrial and Business Party (INP) and signs a contract that secures a Høyre mayor and a SP deputy mayor. The constant mantra in which several people believe the plan has been adopted before it reaches final consideration can make people believe that the most important environmental issues, namely the development issues, are not something they can do anything about. The best answer for a critical and vigilant student is: “Has the matter been up for final consideration in the municipal council? May I see the protocol?” Many in Ås have probably thought that we in MDG are the crazy ones, who want “rematch” after “rematch”. But if we are to solve the nature and climate crisis, this fight must be given higher priority than constant urban sprawl and the consideration of developers’ predictability. Vollskogen will be finalized on the 25th of October, so it’s still not too late to turn around!
Ås MDG’s municipal board grouping now consists of three students or recently graduated students. Over the next four years, we will demonstrate a green school policy, fight for mental health services such as the Health Center for Youth and Students, watch over nature, look after the farmable lands and work to take care of the Oslo Fjord. If the environmental village of Ås can’t show the way, who can? I look forward with hope to the possibility of a green central parliament election in two years!
In the meantime: eat your beans and your oats, pick litter every day, ride your bike, enjoy nature and take care of your friends
Thank you for letting me be your deputy mayor for four years!
