Leka is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Leknes on the island of Leka. Other villages in Leka include Sør-Gutvika and Madsøygrenda. The 110 km2 municipality is the 326th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Leka is the 349th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 604. The municipality's population density is 5.5 PD/km2 and its population has increased by 8.6% over the previous 10-year period. The island municipality includes all of the island of Leka and part of the island of Austra as well as hundreds of smaller surrounding islands and skerries. Primarily a fishing and farming community, Leka is the northernmost municipality in Trøndelag county. The island of Leka has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years, as evidenced by cave drawings in the Solsem cave at the southwest tip of the Leka island.

General information

The municipality of Leka was established on 1 October 1860 when it was separated from the large Kolvereid Municipality. Initially, the population of Leka Municipality was 1,702. On 1 January 1909, the southern mainland district of Leka (population: 881) was separated to form the new Gravvik Municipality. This left Leka Municipality with 1,209 residents. The borders of Leka have not changed since then. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county. On 8 June 2017, the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, voted to merge Leka Municipality with Vikna Municipality, Nærøy Municipality, and Bindal Municipality to form one, large municipality effective 1 January 2020. Both Leka and Bindal municipalities rejected the merger, but Vikna and Nærøy merged on that date to form the new Nærøysund Municipality.

Toponymy

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Leka since the island makes up a large portion of the parish and municipality. The meaning of the name is unknown, but it may come from the word lekke which can mean "gravelly ground".

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 21 April 1989. The official blazon is "Gules, a winged claw Or". This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a wing and claw of an eagle. The wing and claw design has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. This is a reference to an incident which supposedly occurred in 1932, in which a three-year-old girl disappeared on the island, and was subsequently discovered beneath the nest of a White-tailed eagle, high up on a cliff where no three-year-old could possibly have climbed. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjervold.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within Leka Municipality. It is part of the Namdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Geography

Leka is an island municipality encompassing the main island of Leka, the western part of the island of Austra (with the biggest locality being Gutvik), and many other small islands in the surrounding area. The tiny island groups of Sklinna and Horta lie to the west of the main islands. Sklinna Lighthouse is located in the westernmost part of the municipality. Leka borders Nærøysund Municipality to the south and Bindal Municipality (in Nordland county) to the north. The highest point in the municipality is the 588.28 m tall mountain Romsskåla.

History

Dated to the Viking Age, the burial mound Herlaugshaugen is one of the largest (in Norway) from that era.

Government

Leka Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Leka is made up of 13 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Leka is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

Politics

In the 2007 municipal elections, Leka had the highest vote for the Centre Party in Norway, at 69.3 per cent.

Transportation

The island of Leka (at the village of Skei) is connected to the village of Gutvik (on the island of Austra) by a ferry line operated by Lekaferja. The island of Austra is connected to the mainland by a bridge at the village of Bogen.

Notable people