Laksevåg Municipality


Laksevåg is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1918 until its dissolution in 1972. The area is now part of Bergen Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Loddefjord. The municipality was a located a short distance west of the city of Bergen, and today it makes up the borough of Laksevåg.
Prior to its dissolution in 1972, the municipality was the 427th largest by area out of the 449 municipalities in Norway. Laksevåg Municipality was the 27th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 28.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Laksevåg was established on 1 July 1918 when the large Askøy Municipality was divided: the northern island portion of the municipality remained as a smaller Askøy Municipality and the southern mainland areas became the new Laksevåg Municipality.
On 1 July 1921, the village area of Gyldenpris was transferred from Laksevåg Municipality to the growing city of Bergen, located to the east.
On 1 January 1972, the city of Bergen was greatly expanded and the following areas were merged to for a new, much larger Bergen Municipality with over 200,000 residents:

Name

The municipality is named after the old Laksevåg farm since the first Laksevåg Church was built there. The first element is the plural genitive case of the word which means "salmon". The last element is which means "inlet" or "bay". Thus, the name means "salmon bay".
On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Laksevaag with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Laksevåg, using the letter å instead.

Churches

The Church of Norway had two parishes within Laksevåg Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Laksevåg prestegjeld and the Bergen domprosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
LaksevågLaksevåg ChurchLaksevåg1875
LoddefjordLoddefjord ChurchLoddefjord1926

Geography

The municipality was located on the western part of the Bergen Peninsula along the Byfjorden, north of the Grimstadfjorden, and west of the Fyllingsdalen valley. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Lyderhorn. Askøy Municipality was located to the north, Bergen Municipality was located to the east, Fana Municipality was located to the south, and Fjell Municipality was located to the west.

Government

While it existed, Laksevåg Municipality was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Laksevåg Municipality was made up of 41 representatives that were elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Laksevåg Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
  • 1918–1920: A. Andersen
  • 1920–1922: Ludvig Sæhoug
  • 1923–1925: D.M. Davidsen
  • 1926–1928: Bernhard Christensen
  • 1929–1931: Hermann Havre
  • 1932–1934: Bernhard Christensen
  • 1935–1936: B. Groufh-Jacobsen
  • 1936–1940: Alf Pettersen
  • 1945–1945: Alf Pettersen
  • 1946–1954: Andreas Nygaardsvik
  • 1954–1964: Olav Hereid
  • 1964–1971: Ingvald Iversen