Vevelstad

Vevelstad kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Nordland within
Norway

Vevelstad within Nordland
Coordinates: 65°40′6″N 12°31′7″E / 65.66833°N 12.51861°E / 65.66833; 12.51861Coordinates: 65°40′6″N 12°31′7″E / 65.66833°N 12.51861°E / 65.66833; 12.51861
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Helgeland
Administrative centre Vevelstad
Government
 • Mayor (2003) Ken-Richard Hansen (Sp)
Area
 • Total 538.83 km2 (208.04 sq mi)
 • Land 517.14 km2 (199.67 sq mi)
 • Water 21.69 km2 (8.37 sq mi)
Area rank 198 in Norway
Population (2011)
 • Total 520
 • Rank 427 in Norway
 • Density 1.0/km2 (3/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -9.7 %
Demonym(s) Vevelstadværing[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1816
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.vevelstad.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Vevelstad is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Forvika.

General information

View of the Velfjorden, Vevelstad is on the left side of the fjord.

The municipality of Vevelstad was established on 1 July 1916 when it was separated from the municipality of Tjøtta. Initially, the municipality had 1,097 residents. On 1 July 1920, the Giskåen farm area (population: 10) was transferred from Tjøtta to Vevelstad.[2]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vevelstad farm (Old Norse: Vifilsstaðir), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the Norse male name Vifill and the last element is staðir which means "homestead" or "farm".[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 13 November 1991. The arms are canting, showing the first letter of the name, V. The municipality already applied for arms in the 1970s, but all the proposals were rejected by either the council or the national archives. Finally the above arms were adopted and granted.[4]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Vevelstad. It is part of the Sør-Helgeland deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Vevelstad
Parish
(Sokn)		Church NameLocation
of the Church		Year Built
VevelstadVevelstad ChurchVevelstad1796

Geography

The municipality lies in the middle of Norway, surrounded by mountains and fjords. A lot of the municipality is a part of Lomsdal–Visten National Park. The lake Søre Vistvatnet lies in the southeastern part of the municipality inside the national park. Most of the residents live along the coastline or on the island Hamnøya. The mouth of the Velfjorden lies in the southern part of the municipality.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Vevelstad, 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 elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vevelstad is made up of 13 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[5]

Vevelstad Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet3
 Local ListsLokale lister10
Total number of members:13

References

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  3. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 51.
  4. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  5. ↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.
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