Ålen


Ålen is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The former municipality existed from 1855 until 1972. It encompassed the southeastern half of what is now the municipality of Holtålen in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre was the village of Renbygda where Ålen Church is located.

History

The parish of Ålen was established as a civil municipality in 1855 when it was split off from the municipality of Holtaalen. Initially, Ålen had a population of 1,487. In 1875, an uninhabited part of Ålen was moved to the neighboring municipality of Røros. On 1 January 1972, the municipality of Ålen was merged with the neighboring municipality of Haltdalen to make a new municipality called Holtålen, bringing back to use a name from an earlier municipality. Prior to the merger Ålen municipality had a population of 1,944. On 21 April 1989, a small unpopulated part of the neighboring municipality of Røros was transferred to Holtålen.

Name

The name of the municipality is Ålen which comes from the Old Norse word áll, meaning eel, which likely refers to the winding valley in which the main village centre is located.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Ålen, are responsible for primary education, 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.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Ålen was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: