Radøy Municipality

Radøy is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1964 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Alver Municipality in the traditional district of Nordhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Manger. Other villages in the municipality included Askeland, Austmarka, Bøvågen, Haugland, Sæbø, and Sletta. The municipality included almost all of the island of Radøy plus many small surrounding islands.

Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 372nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Radøy Municipality was the 199th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about . The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 5.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Radøy Municipality was created by merging the following areas:

all of Manger Municipality (population: 1,344)
all of Hordabø Municipality (population: 1,679)
the island of Bogno from Herdla Municipality (population: 29)
most of Sæbø Municipality, except the Titland area on the Lindås peninsula (population: 916)
the Sletta area on the island of Radøy from Lindås Municipality (population: 305)
the Straume area on the island of Radøy and the small island of Fesøyna from Austrheim Municipality (population: 56)

Historically, this municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged). Also on that same date, Meland Municipality, Radøy Municipality, and Lindås Municipality were merged to form the new Alver Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the island of Radøy () since the municipality encompassed the island. The first element is which means "row", "ridge", or "line" (here in the sense that it is a "long island" sticking out of the ocean). The last element, which means "island", was added later as a suffix to the name.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 14 June 1991 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official blazon is "Or, two oarlocks in pale sable" (). This means the arms have a field (background) 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 pair of oarlocks, one above the other. Oarlocks are on the gunwale of a boat and they support the oar and give force to the rower's stroke. Some of these objects have been found in several places in Radøy and the artifacts date back to the first century BC. The arms were designed by Even Jarl Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway had one parish () within Radøy Municipality. It is part of the Nordhordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Radøy Municipality

!Parish ()!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built

|rowspan="4"|Radøy||Hordabø Church||Bøvågen||1875

|Manger Church||Manger||1891

|Sæbø Church||Sæbø||1883

|Emigrant Church, Sletta||Sletta||1997

Population

Geography

thumb|right|350px|View of the island of Toska

The municipality encompassed all of the island of Radøy, except the far southern tip (which belonged to Lindås Municipality). The smaller surrounding islands of Toska, Bogno, Fesøy, and others were also part of Radøy Municipality. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Morkefjellet. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Nordhordland District Court and Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Radøy Municipality was made up of 25 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor () of Radøy Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1964–1969: Vilhelm Kartveit (Sp)
1969–1971: Nils Gjerde (KrF)
1971–1979: Normann Villanger (Sp)
1979–1983: Meinert Helland (KrF)
1983–1991: Olav Marås (Ap)
1991–2007: Olav Steinar Namtvedt (Sp)
2007–2019: Jon Askeland (Sp)