Brønnøy Municipality

Brønnøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre and commercial centre of the municipality is the town of Brønnøysund. A secondary centre is the village of Hommelstø. Other villages include Tosbotnet, Lande, Trælnes, and Skomo.

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Brønnøy Municipality Brønnøy kommune
Municipality
Brønnø herred (historic name)
View of Brønnøysund
Flag Coat of arms
Nordland within Norway
Brønnøy within Nordland
Coordinates: 65°28′33″N 12°24′01″E
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Helgeland
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Brønnøysund
Government
• Mayor (2023)	Siv Aglen (Ap)
Area
• Total	1,046.03 km² (403.87 sq mi)
• Land	998.89 km² (385.67 sq mi)
• Water	47.14 km² (18.20 sq mi) 4.5%
• Rank	#107 in Norway
Highest elevation ^[1]	1,224.86 m (4,018.57 ft)
Population (2024)
• Total	7,826
• Rank	#135 in Norway
• Density	7.5/km² (19/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−0.9%
Demonym	Brønnøyværing^[2]
Official language ^[3]
• Norwegian form	Neutral
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1813^[4]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

The 1,046-square-kilometre (404 sq mi) municipality is the 107th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Brønnøy is the 135th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 7,826. The municipality's population density is 7.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (19/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 0.9% over the previous 10-year period.^[5]^[6]

The Brønnøysund Register Centre is an important employer in Brønnøy. Also, one of the largest limestone mines in Northern Europe is located in the municipality. Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy is located near the town of Brønnøysund.

General information

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Perspective

The municipality of Brønnøy was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 October 1875 the eastern district (population: 1,162) was separated to become the new Velfjord Municipality. This left Brønnøy with 4,156 residents.

Then on 1 January 1901, the southwestern district (population: 2,731) was separated to become the new Vik Municipality (which later changed its name to Sømna Municipality). Brønnøy Municipality was then left with 3,440 inhabitants. On 1 January 1923, the large village of Brønnøysund (population: 948) was separated from Brønnøy Municipality to become a town (ladested).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, a major municipal merger took place. The following areas were merged to form a new, larger Brønnøy Municipality.

the town of Brønnøysund (population: 2,064)
Sømna Municipality (population: 2,347)
Brønnøy Municipality (population: 2,635)
Velfjord Municipality (population: 1,380)
the part of Bindal Municipality located in the Lande-Tosbotn area around the inner Bindalsfjorden (population: 296)

Just thirteen years later on 1 January 1977, most of the former Sømna Municipality was separated from Brønnøy Municipality once again to become its own municipality. The Hongset area of the old Sømna Municipality remained in Brønnøy Municipality.^[7]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the small island of Brønnøya (Old Norse: Brunnøy), since the first Brønnøy Church was built there. The first element is brunnr which means "well" or "spring" and the last element is øy which means "island". Islands with freshwater wells were important for seafarers.^[8] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Brønnø. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Brønnøy.^[9]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 20 May 1988. The official blazon is "Or a balisage signal sable" (Norwegian: I gull en svart seilingsgrind). This means the arms have a field (background) that has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The charge is a navigational marker which is used to signal directions for navigation within a harbour. The charge represents the importance of boating and harbours in this seaside municipality. The arms were designed by Rolf Tidemann, a graphic artist from Brønnøysund.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within Brønnøy Municipality. It is part of the Sør-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

More information Parish (sokn), Church name ...

**Churches in Brønnøy**
Parish (sokn)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Brønnøy	Brønnøy Church	Brønnøysund	1870
	Skogmo Chapel	Skomo	1979
	Trælnes Chapel	Trælnes	1980
Velfjord og Tosen	Nøstvik Church	Hommelstø	1674
Velfjord og Tosen	Tosen Chapel	Lande	1734

Geography

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Perspective

The municipality has great scenic variety with numerous islets, lakes (such as Eidvatnet, Sausvatnet, and Fjellvatnet), mountains, and some fertile agricultural areas. Torget island is connected to the mainland via the Brønnøysund Bridge. The highest point in the municipality is the 1,224.86-metre (4,018.6 ft) tall mountain Breivasstinden, on the border with Grane Municipality.^[1]

Brønnøy is located along the Norwegian coast. Vega Municipality and Vevelstad Municipality are to the north, Vefsn Municipality and Grane Municipality are to the east, and Bindal Municipality and Sømna Municipality are to the south. The large fjord Velfjorden runs into the heart of the municipality.

Nature

In the southwest is the island of Torget, with the mountain Torghatten, is famous for a cavity that goes straight through the structure. Lomsdal–Visten National Park is located in the northeastern part of Brønnøy Municipality.

The world's most northerly naturally occurring small-leaved lime (linden) forests grows in Brønnøy Municipality, and there are patches of boreal rainforests in Grønlidalen nature reserve^[13] and Storhaugen nature reserve.^[14] Strompdalen nature reserve^[15] and Horsvær nature reserve, a nesting place for a rich variety of seabirds, are also located in the municipality.

Climate

Brønnøy has a temperate oceanic climate with mild winters with all monthly mean temperatures above freezing (Koppen Cfb). The growing season is also long for the latitude. There is a lot of precipitation, with significant precipitation in all months. Autumn and early winter is the wettest season and October the wettest month. The driest season is spring and early summer with May as the driest month. There have been weather stations in Brønnøy since 1873. 9 of the 12 monthly all-time lows are from 1940 or older; 3 from before 1900. The all-time low −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F) was recorded in February 1966, and the all-time high 32.1 °C (89.8 °F) was set on 27 July 2019. Inland areas of the municipality will have colder winters.

More information Climate data for Brønnøysund Airport 1991-2020 (9 m, precipitation 1961-90, extremes 1873-2020 includes earlier stations), Month ...

Climate data for Brønnøysund Airport 1991-2020 (9 m, precipitation 1961-90, extremes 1873-2020 includes earlier stations)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	10.2 (50.4)	11.2 (52.2)	14.7 (58.5)	21.1 (70.0)	27.2 (81.0)	30.3 (86.5)	32.1 (89.8)	30.1 (86.2)	24.6 (76.3)	20.3 (68.5)	17.6 (63.7)	12.2 (54.0)	32.1 (89.8)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	2 (36)	2 (36)	4 (39)	8 (46)	12 (54)	15 (59)	18 (64)	17 (63)	14 (57)	9 (48)	6 (43)	4 (39)	9 (49)
Daily mean °C (°F)	1.1 (34.0)	0.4 (32.7)	1.4 (34.5)	4.7 (40.5)	8.1 (46.6)	11.2 (52.2)	14.3 (57.7)	14 (57)	11.1 (52.0)	6.8 (44.2)	4 (39)	1.9 (35.4)	6.6 (43.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	0 (32)	−1 (30)	−1 (30)	2 (36)	5 (41)	9 (48)	12 (54)	12 (54)	9 (48)	5 (41)	2 (36)	1 (34)	5 (40)
Record low °C (°F)	−17.1 (1.2)	−18.4 (−1.1)	−15.5 (4.1)	−10.1 (13.8)	−5 (23)	0 (32)	1 (34)	1.1 (34.0)	−4.4 (24.1)	−5.2 (22.6)	−11.3 (11.7)	−18.2 (−0.8)	−18.4 (−1.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	138 (5.4)	102 (4.0)	114 (4.5)	97 (3.8)	66 (2.6)	83 (3.3)	123 (4.8)	113 (4.4)	180 (7.1)	192 (7.6)	145 (5.7)	157 (6.2)	1,510 (59.4)
Source 1: yr.no - Meteorologisk Institutt^[16]
Source 2: Weatheronline.co.uk^[17]

Government

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Perspective

Brønnøy Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[18] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Brønnøy is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.