Political Program
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This is an English version of Berlevåg Socialist Left’s Political Programme for the Local Elections of 2019.
Berlevåg needs positive population growth. We can achieve this through good policies that embrace everyone. Berlevåg Socialist Left wants a buzzing business community in the town centre, in the harbour, and the new industry park at Revnes. In Berlevåg we achieve much, even though we are few.
However, if depopulation continues our community will stagnate. Therefore, we must implement measures that increase our population, and which ensures wellbeing so they do not want to move away. Deliberate recruitment is one such measure. We must also work towards more integration and inclusion in our community.
To create a desire for living here, we need good services in health, education and for those growing up here. Our municipality must acknowledge and help out cultural life and volunteering, where it can, something the Socialist Left will aim hard at. Good transport capability between Kongsfjord and Berlevåg is a must so that everyone can participate in daily activities.
A society built on transparent democratic processes
If we are to strengthen our local democracy we need transparency in our decision-making processes. Decisions must not be made behind closed doors. The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants to re-instate the Main Committee Model (hovedutvalgsmodellen), as well as to have regular Municipal Board meetings, and online streaming of public meetings. Active use of the Youth Council is necessary to engage young people in local politics. We must also work against social dumping, to ensure good conditions for all workers in Berlevåg. The Municipal Economy must consider investments in a long-term perspective that also consider their sustainability.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To re-instate the Main Committee Model
- To hold regular Municipal Board meetings, more than five a year
- To avoid making urgent decisions, through solid and well-documented proceedings
- To stream public meetings
- To be visible in the media and in social media, where it’s natural
Welfare for all
The people of Berlevåg and Kongsfjord need to feel safe that they will get the help they need if something goes amiss. The Berlevåg Social Left wants to ensure public welfare without private profit-making, as well as the provision of specialist health services locally. Employees, residents and visitors at the Helsesenter should feel wellbeing, and, therefore, daily activities are important.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To facilitate specialist health services locally
- To create better activities-offer for short-term and long-term residents at the Helsesenter
- To investigate the status of the Helsesenter building and assess it in terms of health legislation
- To work towards equalization, by hindering social differences and poverty, especially in families with children
- To secure guidance and information about aid & support schemes for those in need
A safe childhood and life-long learning
Good schooling has to be built from the ground and up in co-operation between pupils, teachers and parents. Welfare measures are needed to prevent bullying. Both the school and the kindergarten need qualified employees and enough staff. Also, resources have to be used correctly, teachers must be allowed to teach in the subjects they are proficient in. In this way, the children get the best benefit of their education, and the teachers remain motivated. Grown-ups in our municipality should have the possibility of taking further education without having to move away, therefore, we want to establish a Study Centre for Further Education.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To continue the work on good school-home collaboration and continue the Parents Council Board’s wellbeing measures
- To increase the resources of daily pedagogic leadership in the school
- To ensure that qualified teachers teach subjects they are qualified in
- To reduce the maximum price of kindergarten to 2500 NOK per month
- The municipality to have three apprentice positions at all times
- To work with the County to strengthen the LOSA (Local Training in Collaboration with Working Life) offer
- To establish a study centre for inhabitants that wish to further their education without having to move away
Cultural life and leisure activities create happiness
Cultural life and sports have great intrinsic value in our society. Good services and leisure activities generate wellbeing and a desire to continue living here. Natural meeting venues for people, clubs and societies must be safeguarded, and have a low threshold for usage. Samfunnshuset has high cultural-historical value. The public library needs to become an arena for the exchange of opinions and gatherings. Through meeting places like this, we can break down prejudices and open a dialogue with each other. The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants to lead inclusive policies in cultural life and sports so that everyone in Berlevåg and Kongsfjord can join in and feel that they belong. To preserve and communicate our cultural history is important, therefore, the work being done on a municipal Cultural Memory Plan is essential.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- The municipality to ensure a good framework and growth terms for cultural life and sports
- To have general low-threshold offers and meeting places for people
- To work towards partnership agreements between the municipality and voluntary clubs and societies
- To secure easily available internet in public buildings
- To develop the public library as a natural meeting arena, through measures such as a language café
- To evaluate the need for renovation of the Samfunnshus in Berlevåg and the Samfunnshus in Kongsfjord
- To set up a billiard table and to re-open the miniature shooting range at the Samfunnshus in Berlevåg
- To secure Berlevåg and Kongsfjords cultural history through policies based on the Cultural Memory Plan (which is currently being worked on) for Berlevåg Municipality
A pioneer for the environment
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants to start measures that will make Berlevåg great at recycling and reduction of disposable packaging. In the municipal sector, we want to out-phase heating of buildings by way of fossil fuels. We want to introduce environmentally friendly disposable packaging. The municipality also needs to take more responsibility for the environment and to stop pollution, for instance by helping in the fight against marine pollution. The Socialist Left wishes that businesses become more aware of the importance of a good and clean environment, and uphold order and cleanliness around their businesses.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To ensure that the municipality initiates action against marine pollution
Fishing and businesses of the future
Fishing is important — maritime resources are communal property, it should contribute to employment and increased settlement in our coastal community. Therefore, we need more whole-year work in fish businesses. We wish to connect with research milieus that concentrate on climate and maritime research because this will benefit our industries and also education. The Berlevåg Socialist Left looks positively at the development of businesses and industry in our community, but it has to be sustainable. We support investments in wind power and hydrogen. A possible further expansion of windmills outside the Raggo area has to be evaluated by the consequences of the intervention in nature an expansion will entail. The tourism industry should be developed, one has to ensure that tourism remains sustainable. Entrepreneurs need to be able to lend municipal office rooms in their start-up phase.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To develop a strategy for further investments in the harbours of Berlevåg and Kongsfjord
- To evaluate the possibility of founding a research park and new uses for empty municipal buildings, such as Kongsfjord School and Torget 4
- To assist existing fishing businesses, with the goal of expanding the number of work positions
- To support sustainable tourism
Community development and municipal operations
The way our community develops, and the way our municipality operates, has to be both economically and environmentally sustainable. We have to think long-term, here strategies and plans for management are important tools. In the municipal sector, we have to secure a good working environment for all. The Socialist Left wants a full-fledged housing offer in Berlevåg and Kongsfjord.
The Berlevåg Socialist Left wants:
- To reduce part-time positions in the municipal sector
- To develop a management plan for municipal buildings
- To motivate people who have moved away to consider selling empty houses
- An annual amount of the property tax to go to the maintenance of municipal roads
- To ratify a new goal map, a management document which makes the municipalities long-term and strategic goals measurable
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