Races on different snowmobile driving rules in the same county – NRK Troms and Finnmark – Local News, TV and Radio

– We are quite horrified here in Nord-Troms, that it is possible to differentiate in this way. We are merged into one county, Troms and Finnmark are one, says Hilde Nyvoll (Ap), mayor of Nordreisa.

She says she would have thought about it if it had been a professional justification for the rejection in Nord-Troms, but she can’t see that it is.

– I think it must be a big misunderstanding, somewhere.

It is actually illegal to run snowmobiles after May 5. But the county governor has an opportunity to make certain exceptions.

Several Nord-Troms municipalities have requested that the county governor extend the opening hours of the ski slopes. All requests are rejected. But the refusal to extend the deadline for snowmobiles in Nord-Troms is not a misunderstanding, says Troms and Finnmark County Governor Elisabeth Vik Aspaker.

In Finnmark, exceptions to the law have been made in the past, allowing snowmobiles to run until May 17. In Troms, however, there has been no such practice before. Therefore, the county governor believes that they cannot open up to what are now regulations, even though the counties are merged.

– But I understand that the mayors think that it is not reasonable with the different treatment to which they are subject, says Vik Aspaker to NRK.

– totally wrong

As of January 1, 2020, the two counties, Troms and Finnmark, have been merged. Therefore, many people react to regulations that are interpreted differently within what is now the same county.

Storfjord Mayor Geir Varvik (H) opposes what he thinks is completely wrong.

– I think the county governor’s interpretation is totally wrong. When you read the section on this, section 9, it clearly says that “the municipalities of Nord-Troms and Finnmark can extend the term for skating,” he says.

Svein Leiros is the group leader for the Center Party on the Kåfjord municipal council. He says many are upset by the decision of the county governor.

– It is despair. Desperation for discrimination. We can’t have that.

– totally incomprehensible

The county council leader in Troms and Finnmark, Bjørn Inge Mo (Ap) is also responding to the difference in treatment in the new region. Calls for regulations to be coordinated so that it becomes the same practice.

– Although Finnmark and Nord-Troms have the same legislation as a starting point, it is practiced differently. It’s not fortunate that regulations are treated differently by the same office at the social worker level, says Mo.

The county council leader now asks the county governor to clean up the practice to make the practice similar, and then, as has been practiced for Finnmark municipalities, Nord-Troms can also drive snowmobiles to this day. national.

– It is completely incomprehensible that the same municipalities in our region do not receive the same treatment.

But Troms and Finnmark County Governor Elisabeth Vik Aspaker said the instructions they received from the Ministry of Climate and Environment in 2016 did not allow them to extend the opening hours of ships in Nord-Troms municipalities.

She says that after the Motor Traffic Law was last discussed in the Storting, an interpretation came from the Ministry, about what practice to follow when it comes to opening the shipping lanes, beyond the beginning of May.

– Then it was clearly said that the old practice in Finnmark to allow opening could continue, while the practice that had been in Troms to say no to greater opening should also continue.

Ask the Ministry for help

But the Ministry’s interpretation came before January 1, 2020, that is, before Troms and Finnmark merged into a single county.

Vik Aspaker finds it difficult to defend what has become what she calls differential treatment in the same county. Therefore, on May 7, he sent a letter to the ministry asking for clarification.

In the letter, the county governor writes that the merger of the county implies the need for a reconsideration of the case, so that the municipalities of Nord-Troms and Finnmark can be treated equally.

– We are a county official and a county. Therefore, it requires us to make such a differential treatment for part of the county. So we chose to raise the matter with the Ministry. Only the Ministry can clarify this now.

Several have appealed the refusal of the Troms and Finnmark County Governor. Some, including the Kåfjord Snowmobile Association, are also considering filing a complaint with the Civil Ombudsman to clarify the legality of the decision.

The county council leader calls for equality for the law.

– It must be a basic principle that the law must be the same. With the long snowy winter we’ve had this year, the inequalities became very clear to the people of the northernmost region, Bjørn Inge Mo concludes.