“It's now or never for Norrbotten”

Now the politicians in the Norrbotten Region's regional development committee are making a new tour of the county. It will be the second during the mandate period and this time the focus is on skills supply and attractive living environments.

The first municipality out was Övertorneå on October 26-27, the home municipality of Tomas Vedestig, chairman of the regional development committee.

– All 14 municipalities in the county will be visited during the tour. It is about developing collaboration between the region and the municipalities. As the development manager for the county, the region needs to know what challenges and opportunities the municipalities have, he notes.

Get more people to move here

When it comes to Övertorneå, where he is chairman of the city council, there is a lot going on.

– Among other things, a major investment in Luppioberget, where 50 cabins and a large gourmet restaurant with world-class food are being built. We are also investing heavily in winter tourism, such as dog sledding. We have been awarded the prize as Sweden's best school municipality and are a safe municipality spared from gang crime. These are things we must use better to our advantage to attract people to move in, he says.

Members of the regional development committee will participate in the municipal visits from the region, as well as regional councilor Nils-Olov Lindfors, the new regional development director Janus Brandin and the new cultural director Peppe Bergström Hesselbom.

Plenty of leisure activities

In addition to municipal leaders, representatives from cultural and leisure life and communications, among other things, are invited from the municipalities.

– One of the points we highlight is that, despite the fact that there are job opportunities in the county, it is difficult to get people to move in. At the same time, there is a surprisingly large amount of leisure activities. With that as a starting point, we want to think about how our attractive living environments can contribute to a greater extent to more people coming here from the south and enjoying living here, not just to the municipalities that have major industrial investments underway, says Tomas Vedestig.

When it comes to cultural life, he notes that a lot of culture is found on the coast.

– There is a larger representative there because they have more residents. Therefore, we need to create conditions for those who live in the hinterland and Malmfälten to come there. We also need to bring more culture to the county, for example from Norrbottensteatern and Konstmuseum i norr.

High hopes for the future

Tomas Vedestig also sees a need to develop work on gender equality issues.

– It is an important part of being able to offer an attractive working environment.

Once all the visits to the municipalities have been completed, all proposals for measures will be compiled. There are also plans to organize a joint conference for the region and all municipalities in the county.

– We envision an open conference similar to the gathering of forces conferences that were held in the past. There are great hopes for the future. Norrbotten has never had a situation like this before. It's now or never.

Please contact Tomas Vedestig, Chairman of the Regional Development Committee, or Janus Brandin, Regional Development Director, if you have any questions.
tomas.vedestig@norrbotten.se
janus.brandin@norrbotten.se