OPINIONS: Runic Fortune
Chief, Drammen Venstre
I find it condescending to reduce five parties with well-filled political programs, and with a real commitment to the whole municipality and the future, to “special interests”.
OPINIONS: First I want to say that I want Welcome to Tom Berntzen as a political commentator. He can enrich the political debate in Drammen with his weight and his experience.
Then I mean I ok it’s time put aside disputes over previous collaborations, and fads. It diverts attention from what is the serious heart of the matter: what Ishould be adopted because the development plan of the municipality is downright inconvenient.
I report it, I understand neither as special interests nor to surf fashions. The consequences of the management plan (as it is likely to be adopted) are important. And the consequences are great for many generations to come. As projects come to fruition, there is no turning back. Important hiking and nature areas, cultivated land and natural diversity are gone forever. It’s presented as if it’s about a few clumps of grass here and there, but the scope is wide: it includes around 2,600 targets, or around 230 football pitches.
Farm owners must stop their activities, precious natural diversity will disappear and the experiences we have access to will no longer exist. And if the PA had listened to the signals of its own youth organization, then they would have understood that the next generation does not want the Drammen for which the spatial plan is intended. And this is indeed an important point, the development plan is not only for our generation, it is just as much for future generations. And the signals are that they have added other values to the term “predictable”: Predictability in relation to the environment, nature and sustainability. And I don’t think I’m the only one in my generation to share the view that it matters.
We believe it is entirely possible build more homes, create new businesses and foster economic growth in Drammen without such drastic interventions. The proposal that is likely to be adopted is to plan the future with the thought of yesterday. And that’s what I find annoying.
We should know better, and achieve something better than that. It is embarrassing for Drammen that Climate and Environmental Protection Minister Espen Barth Eide (AP) is going to the UN climate summit in Canada with the promise that Norway will do the exact opposite of what plans Drammen AP: protect more nature and restore the nature that has been lost. He could save himself the trip and visit Drammen instead.
We seem to need the message even more. It is embarrassing that cultivated land is lost and farms have to be closed at a time when it is important that we increase the degree of food self-production. The area proposed for regularization at Lindum alone represents an annual grain production equivalent to 150,000 loaves of bread. And this is only part of what is proposed to be re-regulated. No, it wasn’t just a little rustle of grass after all. But most embarrassing is that we are unable to create a municipality that can provide the growth and predictability that future generations want.
At Drammen Venstre, we want of course also growth and development. And I think I speak on behalf of SP, MDG, SV and Rødt in the same vein: We want a municipality that is forward-looking and good for the inhabitants of today and tomorrow. And then the zone plan which is about to be adopted is a step in the wrong direction.
Finally, I would like to say: I find it condescending that you, Tom Berntzen, reduce five parties with full political platforms, and with a genuine commitment to the whole municipality and the future, to “special interests”. We deserve to be taken seriously. I think it would have been good for you if you had. If you want to be taken seriously.
Of
Runic Fortune
Chief Drammen Venstre
