Stad, Norway

Stad kommune
Stad kommune
	Municipality
	View of the Selje area and the Stad peninsula
	Coat of arms Vestland within ; Norway
	Stad within Vestland
	Coordinates: 61.91139°N 6.03722°E
Country	Norway
County	Vestland
District	Nordfjord
Established	1 Jan 2020
Administrative centre	Nordfjordeid
Government
• Mayor (2020)	Alfred Bjørlo (V)
Area
• Total	752.78 km2 (290.65 sq mi)
• Land	694.85 km2 (268.28 sq mi)
• Water	57.93 km2 (22.37 sq mi) 7.7%
Area rank	152 in Norway
Population (2020)
• Total	9,457
• Rank	118 in Norway
• Density	13.6/km2 (35/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	9.1%
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4649
Official language form	Nynorsk[1]
Website	www.stad.kommune.no
	Data from Statistics Norway

Stad is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality includes much of the northern shore of the Nordfjorden as well as the Stad peninsula.[2] The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Nordfjordeid. Other villages in the municipality include Selje, Barmen, Ervik, Flatraket, Hoddevik, Hoddevika, Håvik, Leikanger, Mogrenda, Stårheim, Haugen, Kjølsdalen, Heggjabygda, and Lote.

The 753-square-kilometre (291 sq mi) municipality is the 152nd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Stad is the 118th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,457. The municipality's population density is 13.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (35/sq mi) and its population has increased by 9.1% over the previous 10-year period.[3][4]

General information

The municipality of Stad was established on 1 January 2020 when Selje Municipality, Eid Municipality, and the Bryggja area of Vågsøy Municipality were merged to form one large municipality.[2]

Name

The municipality is named after the Stad peninsula which is located in the western part of the municipality. The name (Old Norse: staðr) comes from the old word meaning "halt", possibly because the rough waters around the peninsula often caused seafarers here to wait for better weather.[5]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was approved on 15 May 2019. The arms are blue and white and show a two-part design with St. Sunniva on the left and a fjord horse on the right. It is a combination of the old arms of the two municipalities of Selje and Eid which were merged to form Stad.[6] These two figures were chosen because the region is well known for its own race of horses, called the Fjording, that are very common and popular in the area. The Fjording is characterised by its white and black mane.[7] The woman is a depiction of Saint Sunniva, the royal Irish missionary who died as a martyr on the island of Selja while trying to convert he locals to Christianity. Later, the Selje Abbey was built on the spot where she died. She was later named the patron saint of the Norwegian Diocese of Bjørgvin and all of Western Norway.[8]

Churches

The Church of Norway has six parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Stad. It is part of the Nordfjord prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

**Churches in Stad**
Parish (sokn)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Eid	Eid Church	Nordfjordeid	1849
Eid	Heggjabygda Church	Heggjabygda	1936
Ervik	Ervik Church	Ervik	1970
Kjølsdalen	Kjølsdalen Church	Kjølsdalen	1940
Leikanger	Leikanger Church	Leikanger	1866
Selje	Selje Church	Selje	1866
Stårheim	Stårheim Church	Stårheim	1864

Geography

The village of Årvik on the Stad peninsula

The village of Drage on the Stad peninsula

Hundvikfjord seen from Anda

Isefjord, between Eid and Bremanger

Stad Municipality is located in the northwesternmost part of Vestland county, in the Nordfjord region. It includes the Stad peninsula and the islands of Barmøya, Venøya, and Selja. The Sildagapet bay, the North Sea, and the Vanylvsfjorden lie on the western sides of the municipality. The Nordfjorden runs along the south side of the municipality. Hornindalsvatnet, the deepest lake in Europe, is partially located in the municipalithy.

Stad Municipality is bordered to the southwest by Kinn Municipality, to the north by Vanylven Municipality, Sande Municipality, and Volda Municipality (in Møre og Romsdal county). The municipalities of Bremanger and Gloppen lie to the south, across the fjord. Stryn Municipality lies to the east.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Stad, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor.[9] The municipality falls under the Sogn og Fjordane District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Stad is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown for the council is as follows:

*Stad Kommunestyre 2020–2023 [10]*
Party Name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	4
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	3
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	2
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	9
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	2
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	11
Total number of members:		33

References

"Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
Paus, Mari, ed. (2019-09-20). "Stad - kommune". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).
Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).
Askheim, Svein, ed. (2019-09-20). "Stad". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
"Kommunevåpen for Stad kommune klart!" (in Norwegian). Stad kommune. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
"Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
"Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2017-10-22.
Hansen, Tore, ed. (2016-05-12). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
"Tall for hele Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2019" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

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[1] "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.

[snl-2] Paus, Mari, ed. (2019-09-20). "Stad - kommune". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[ssb_pop-3] Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian).

[ssb_area-4] Statistisk sentralbyrå (2020). "09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M)" (in Norwegian).

[snl2-5] Askheim, Svein, ed. (2019-09-20). "Stad". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[6] "Kommunevåpen for Stad kommune klart!" (in Norwegian). Stad kommune. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[7] "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[8] "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2017-10-22.

[ks-9] Hansen, Tore, ed. (2016-05-12). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2019-10-05.

[10] "Tall for hele Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2019" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2019-10-05.