Nærøysund


Nærøysund is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Namdalen. The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 after the merger of the old municipalities of Vikna and Nærøy. The municipality is unique in that it has two equal administrative centre: Kolvereid and Rørvik. The other main population centres of Nærøysund include Abelvær, Foldereid, Gravvik, Lund, Ottersøy, Salsbruket, Steine, Torstad, Austafjord, Garstad, and Valøya.
The municipality is the 70th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Nærøysund is the 116th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,623. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 5.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Municipal history

The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 when the neighboring municipalities of Nærøy and Vikna were merged. The small Lund area of Nærøy was not part of the merger, it instead was merged with the large Namsos Municipality to the south on the same date. The merger came about because on 8 June 2017, the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, voted to merge the municipalities of Leka, Vikna, Nærøy, and Bindal to form one, large municipality effective 1 January 2020. Leka and Bindal municipalities rejected the merger, but Vikna and Nærøy agreed to the merger so it was carried out in 2020.

Name

The name comes from the Nærøysundet strait. The strait is named after the nearby island Nærøya. The Old Norse form of the name of the island was Njarðøy. The first element is maybe the stem form of the name of the Norse god Njord. The last element is øy which means "island". Historically, the name has had varying spellings such as Nærø or Nærøen.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms for the municipality was approved in 2019. The arms are a white shield with a green and blue intertwined design. The green symbolizes the land and agriculture while the blue symbolizes the sea and fishing industry. Both are intertwined like a rope to symbolize unity and the two old municipalities becoming one.

Churches

The Church of Norway had two parishes within the municipality of Nærøy. It is part of the Namdal prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros.
Parish Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
NærøyFoldereid ChurchFoldereid1863
NærøyGravvik ChurchGravvik1875
NærøyKolvereid ChurchKolvereid1874
NærøyLundring ChurchLundring1885
NærøySalsbruket ChapelSalsbruket1950
NærøySteine ChapelSteine1911
NærøyTorstad ChapelTorstad1936
ViknaGarstad ChurchGarstad1856
ViknaRørvik ChurchRørvik1896
ViknaValøy ChapelValøya1972

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Nærøysund, 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. The municipality falls under the Namdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Nærøysund is made up of 37 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows: