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The question has been whether construction of the wind farm started within three years after a waiver was granted.
A majority in the Våler municipal council (10 to 9 votes) gave permission because they thought that the road construction started should be seen as the beginning of the actual construction project.
That is not correct, according to the Ombudsman of the Civil People:
- The Ombudsman’s Office has come to the conclusion that the city council’s justification for not having expired the dispensation has no legal validity.
- The municipal council has referred to and emphasized factors that are not relevant to assess whether the measure has been “initiated” no later than three years after the dispensation was granted.
Wait for construction to stop
The nature conservation organization La Naturen Leve now awaits an end point in construction.
– We hope that the municipality will now take the case immediately and process it in light of the decision of the civil ombudsman. And that, in the meantime, any further development is halted.
STOP: The activists tried to stop the start-up of the wind farm.
Photo: Private
This is what La Naturen Leve’s legal advisor, Vidar Lindefjeld, says.
It was the nature conservation organization that reported the case to the Civil Ombudsman. They have always claimed that construction is illegal and Lindefjeld says it is a kind of Christmas present to be respected.
– At the same time, it’s a bit sad, because development has come so far, he says.
Mayor: – You cannot fight the developer.
The mayor of Våler, Ola Cato Lie (Sp), has not yet received the recent conclusion of the Civil Ombudsman on the table. But he is aware that the case is serious and that it has been difficult for the municipality all the time.
– I did not sit on the municipal council when this was adopted in the previous period. The councilor’s recommendation was that the council say no to begin with. But it was rejected by a majority.
COMING SOON: Austri Vind’s wind power plant at Kjølberget in Våler will be completed soon, but may have been built without a valid permit.
Photo: Austri Kjølberget
Lie says it is too early to say how the Våler municipality will respond to the Civil Ombudsman’s question about what they should do with the case.
But he is clear that he does not know how the case can be reversed, since the development of the wind power plant is so advanced that it characterizes it as almost finished.
– It may be possible to stop it with massive resources, but Våler municipality does not have it. We cannot take such a fight against the developer.
– We must take this seriously
If the municipality will now demand, in any case, the cessation of construction, since its approval, according to the Civil Ombudsman, is therefore illegal, it does not know either.
– We must follow up in some way, because we must take this seriously. But I don’t know what we ended up with, says Lie.
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