When I was an elementary school student in Jevnaker in the early 90’s, the class was provided with an excellent information booklet about the Hadeland community and its three municipalities. Shortly after, we were picked up with other students from Lunner and Gran to the folk museum to learn about Hadeland’s culture and history. Last Thursday, the municipal council in Gran made a decision that effectively ended the development of new inter-city cooperation, and which gave Hadeland High School an unnecessarily tortuous path forward.

What happened?

After Brexit, British writer and journalist David Goodhart unveiled the concept at some place and everywhere to explain the surprising outcome of the referendum that declared Britain out of the European Union. With at some place Goodhart points to rural voters who are particularly attached to the place in which they grew up, and who feel threatened by rapid changes in society in an increasingly urbanized and globalized West.

Anywhere are often urban voters who both embrace the opportunities that these social changes provide, and who have also benefited greatly from them. The information booklet about Hadeland in question should continue the community of identity and create a healthy love for the place where you grew up and is an example of at some place-perspective.

For Jevnaker, the 90s brought big and difficult changes. Employees in production at Hadeland Glassverk were cut drastically, and the Norema kitchen factory closed. Only with the founding of a high-tech company and the conversion of Hadeland Glassverk and Kistefos into attractive tourist destinations did that optimism return. Particularly interesting is the case of Kistefos, which displays world-class art. To achieve this, proximity to the capital and Oslo Gardermoen Airport is absolutely essential, but it also requires that Jevnaker – to an unusual degree in the context of Hadeland – must give up much of Hadeland’s traditional identity.

Jevnaker must be visible and open and emerge as part of the global village. This is the only way to ensure sustainable income, growth and development. It is against this background that Jevnaker’s first application for transfer to Viken, violations of regional cooperation and the final decision on transfer to Akershus should be understood.

Lunner is the least industrialized municipality of Hadeland. The local traditionalism and patriotism in the municipality has led to some decisions that now seem incomprehensible, such as not fulfilling the Ringnes brewery’s desire to set up a brewery in Stryken. The city’s bottomless coffers meant that Lunner had to think anew, and for Jevnaker, proximity to the airport and the capital was a promising opportunity. When Lunner applied for a transfer to Viken, online housing applicants suddenly found Harestua in search results. Now a new settlement between Romeriksåsene and Nordmarka is taking shape. All commercial plots have been sold, new housing is being planned and a new health and care center is being completed. Lunner had clung to Akershus forever, and would never look back.

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Ole Gulbrand buries Hadeland once and for all: – It gets tough when big brother returns his little brother

Gran became the host municipality for the senior secondary education offer in Hadeland when Oppland County Municipality invested NOK 800 million in the new HVS which opened in 2012. Upper secondary education is the district municipality’s main administrative task: 50 percent of the budget goes to school operations and 20- Another 25 percent to support functions such as school transportation, dental services, cultural and administrative services. It is district boundaries that define the regional framework within which district municipalities will dimension senior secondary education.

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Now the decision about Gran’s affiliation has been made!

For Lunner and Jevnaker, however, the Solberg government’s regional reforms were a unique opportunity to create the long-awaited awareness of their municipality, and one who was thinking about senior secondary education at such a time. It wasn’t until parents learned that elders at Hadeland VGS had a different week of vacation than at least in elementary school did people in the southern municipality become aware of the practical implications of the different regional affiliations. At Hadeland High School, on the other hand, since the regional reforms were implemented, there have been concerns that the different affiliations would transcend both dimensions and training offerings.

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Mayor Lunner quotes Ari Behn: – “So sad”

“Take the wheel” is the title of a letter I sent in December to the municipal council in Gran. In the letter, I asked the city council to make predictability for HVS by making active choices about county affiliation. I think that Gran should look south, both to include applicants in the recruitment area originally intended for HVS, but also to open schools to applicants from the crowded municipality of Nittedal. This is a anywhere-perspective. In his post during the city council debate, representative Kvernvold Myhre argued beautifully for Innlandet by pointing to the language communities, winter sports, Prøysen and Børli. This is a at some place-perspective. Of course, both perspectives are equally valid!

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Cheers and condolences in the comments: – This must be the worst that could happen

When Gran concluded by leaving the decision to the referendum, it set the stage for an exchange of words between anywhere- and a place-perspective with the potential to drain voters. At some placeperspective would argue that “another” will leave Gran’s soul, temporarily anywhereperspective would argue that “another” will isolate Spruce and neglect necessary growth and development. Of course this doesn’t have to be the case, but referendums on identity issues have a weary tendency to develop steep fronts, which can leave deep and painful scars on people’s psyche for generations to come.

I myself once sat on the wall of the sun near the church of St. Petri, looking over to “Norwes Tuscany” and daydreaming about the time Kirsten Langbo read the story on the crackling radio about growing up and life here. I’ve also been wondering how long this landscape won’t change, knowing about the growing misery of the Oslo area and the local city coffers screaming for new revenue.

Gran’s electorate will now debate how to manage cooperation between cities in the south and its role as host of the Hadeland high school, while at the same time saying something about the best way to preserve this unique cultural heritage. By all means avoid trench debate and perpetual indecision. But be deterred!

Hadeland High School needed a quick clarification, so we knew what to expect!

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Submitted 104 signatures from employees: – Hadeland as a whole is very important for the future of the school