About the municipality of Stokke

Located in the heart of the county Vestfold – the smallest county in Norway –
- with an area of 118 km2
- with 10.770 inhabitants and the population growing by approx. 3 % a year

Development:
New development areas for housing are now built and located on new sites in the inland rather than by the seashore.  This will make special sites and new small towns.
Potential is estimated to reach 1.600 houses within the year 2020.

Schools:
Stokke has 7 primary schools  with 1.491 pupils.  We also have 2 highschools, Gjennestad and Melsom, where Gjennestad is educating in fields like agriculture and golf, and Melsom in media.  Last but not least we have a centre for seniors, where senior citizens can learn about computers, study internet and lots of other subjects.

Preschools:
In Stokke we have thirteen preschools that together provide for an excellent
and varied offer to families. Over the last few years several new preschools have been built and as a consequence the municipality has a good coverage. 

Communication:
It is easy to reach Stokke:
 Railway
 Highway E-18
 Airport – 10 minutes drive to Sandefjord Torp – where Stokke is co-owner
 Ferry – 25 minutes drive to Horten – Moss
 Ferry – 10 minutes drive to Sandefjord – Strømstad, Sweden
 Ferry – 25 minutes drive to Larvik – Fredrikshavn, Denmark
 Bus – Express-buses on highway E-18 to Oslo
 Broadband – The town halls are connected by cable (Horten, Tønsberg, Stokke)

Culture:
 Stokke has a large variety of  different clubs and associations.
 Within sports we have great opportunities for crosscountry skiing, also on artificial snow.  Stokke will host the national skiing competition in Norway in 2010.  Stokke has 2 athletic stadiums/-halls.
 We have Stokke Bygdetun, a historic museum and association.
 We have Fossnes, the “art village”.
 We have Stella Polaris, professional theatregroup, who has become more and more famous.  They even have actors that are educated from the school of circus in Moscow !
 We have golfcourses, both outdoors and indoors.

Politics – Norway has elections every 4th year:
Elections to the Parliament : since 1814 – next election in 2009
Elections to the local governments: since 1837 – next election in 2011

The local election in 2007 in Stokke municipality made a change in our history, for the first time ever Stokke got a mayor from the Labour party.  The city council has 29 representatives devided on 7 different parties:
AP (Labour): 10, Høyre (Conservaties): 6, FRP (Right wing): 6, SV (Left wing): 1, KRF (Christian party): 3, SP (Farmers party): 2, Venstre (Liberals): 1

Cooperation with other municipalities and within the region are:
 12-k – 12 municipalities co-working on different issues and projects
 Within the region:  BTV
 Co-working on systems for sanitation, watersupply, sewage disposals
 Stokke will get a new 4-lane highway (E-18) through all of the county of Vestfold in 2013

Trade and industry:
 In Stokke 670 persons run their own trade or industry.
 Totally 4.000 are employed in the Stokke, but we do have a lot of people working in Tønsberg, the closest town in the region.
 In 2001 we had a turnover of  3,4 billion NOK and  a production of values of 1,6 billion NOK.
 Borgeskogen industrial plant is the biggest and employs 1.200 people.
 Trade and industry mainly consists of: building, housing, transport, trade, official business.
 Agriculture – 35 % of the total area is cultivated.
 The centre of the municipality is growing and has big potentials for further growth – Vinmonopol ? (Vinmonopol is a monopoly of stores selling alcohol).
 Regulated and vacant areas for building, industry or trade  – ABC
 Brunstad – BCC – a big potential for conferences etc. – can take up to 7.000 delegates
 Torp – the former military airport – big potential for building, industry – a total area of 1.600 decars (400 acres).

The council
The council has 900 employees, equivilant to 625 man-years.
We offer our inhabitants services, such as:
 Schools
 Playschools
 Health care:  Home services, nursing homes, care of the aged as centres for courses etc.
 Technical services:  Water supplies, sewage disposals, roads,
 Culture: Athletic grounds and –halls, museums, outdoor life