Construction in the coastal zone, 1985-2004

Everyone shall have the opportunity to take part in outdoor recreation as a healthy and environmental sound leisure activity that provides a sense of well - being , both near their homes and in the countryside . This is the goal for outdoor life in the Norwegian environmental policy. In this aspect the coastal zone is very valuable, offering opportunities for outdoor recreation. At the same time these areas are under great pressure from developments that restrict public access.

Several key indicators have been developed as tools for supervising the development of the national environmental targets outlined in White Paper no 25 from the Storting. (Stortingsmelding nr. 25 (2002-2003)). Access to the coastal zone is one of these key indicators.

The coastline of the Norwegian mainland is 83 281 km, including islands, fjords and bays. This corresponds to more than twice the Earth's circumference at equator. Most urban settlements and a large part of the developed areas, including weekend and holiday homes, are situated along the coast.

National target in danger?

It is a national target that valuable areas for outdoor recreation should be protected. Despite of this there has been some development in the coastal zone. For the country as a whole 23.5 per cent of the coastline is less than 100 meters from the nearest building (as registered in GAB 01.01.2004). This corresponds to halfway around equator. From Østfold to Hordaland, which is given particular attention in the environmental policy, as much as 39.1 per cent of the coastline is less than 100 meters from the nearest building. This suggests that public access to the coastal zone may be severely restricted in some areas. Developments in the coastal zone are particularly common in and around large urban settlements and in areas with many weekend and holiday homes (figure 1 and 2).

The municipalities in the inner parts of the Oslo fjord have the largest portion of developed coastline. The urban settlements of Oslo are occupying a considerable portion of these areas.

Highest pressure around the large cities

The highest proportion of coastline less than 100 metres from buildings are in and around the large cities. The results are presented by centrality. That is, each municipality in Norway has been classified according to travel time to the closest urban settlement over a certain size. The central municipalities have more of the coastline influenced by buildings than less central municipalities. 39.1 per cent of the coastline in the central municipalities is less than 100 metres from a building, while the corresponding figure for the least central municipalities are 17.3 per cent. Also in the time period from 1985 to 2004, the building activity has been higher in more central municipalities compared to less central municipalities.

§ 17-2 of the Planning and Building act are restricting developments in the coastal zone. Building and development has to be carried out through dispensations. Numbers reported from municipalities to the state through KOSTRA (municipalities to the state reporting) during the last 3 years show that the number of granted dispensations per kilometer coastline is 5 times higher in central areas compared to the less central, even though a smaller part of the applications are granted in the central areas. This suggests that even though the municipalities in central areas are more restrictive than others, there is a great pressure on the coastline in these areas. The high number of granted dispensations is contributing to the central areas having the highest speed of development.

The municipalities along the coast from Østfold to Hordaland are somewhat more restrictive than the municipalities further north. During the period 2001-2003, 0,87 dispensations were granted per 10 kilometer of coastline for Hordaland-Østfold, while the number was 0,2 north of Hordaland.