Hallingelille
Hallingelille is the name of a settlement with 20-30 houses in the village Valsømagle by Ringsted. It is formed with the objective:
“We want to create a settlement that provides the framework for a new lifestyle for people who want to:The vision builds on the principles of permaculture and the settlement is a member of GEN (Global Ecovillage Network).
- Be a part of a larger community
- Live in harmony with nature
- Work towards becoming an example on the vision of Agenda 21
The settlement will be developed sustainably so much in balance with nature as possible, and will contribute to the natural balance by planting a large area of forest reserve and growing their own vegetables and fruit.” (www.hallingelille.dk/www/visionen.htm)
Common house (foto: Rune Johansen)
The association Village 2000
The association Village 2000 was founded in 1999 and then searched for a suitable area on central Zealand.
The dream was to create a permacultural village of 100 residents with jobs and institutions - but it was not possible to establish a new city that size in the open country, as all county and municipal plans then had to be altered!
They were interested in a large plot of land in open nature and contacted a number of municipalities (Lejre, Ringsted and Hvalsø) to find suitable areas. But the municipalities either rejected the project, could not meet the required size or found conflicts with other legislation.
Experimental constructions in open countryside
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(foto: Rune Johansen)
West Zealand County had in the regional plan of 2001 “... as something new the opportunity to establish 5 experimental buildings - either related to the villages or in the open countryside if it does not conflict with other important interests in the region. The aim is to test new living and building types. The experiments can only be established if they have environmental or social sustainable objectives and whose size is limited to a maximum of approx. 8 houses.” (Press release dated 13.1.2001). One such was Jystrup, but here the association was met with opposition from locals prompting the land owner to change the decision about selling.
In 2003they found, in cooperation with Ringsted municipality, the abandoned farm Hallingebjerg by Valsømagle, which was for sale. Authorization was given for 30 individual building plots. When the project plan for the now substantially reduced permaculture project was given into public hearing it was rejected by the Urban Planning and Housing Committee - partly because of citizen opposition who feared traffic and an unknown culture, and partly because of liberal politicians from the party Venstre and their negative perception of ecology and the threats against hunting interests (according to interview with resident from Hallinglille 2008).
Local plan
A group of 10 people then decided to buy the abandoned farm Hallingebjerg. The following year they tried again to be approved in local plan to build housing. The local plan was now adopted by Ringsted city council in 2005 under the name Hallingebjerg - Village 2000. It was a principle approval of the project with max. 30 homes under the regional plan guidelines for experimental construction (see decision record). Then each member can buy their own plot of land and develop their own construction.
Some of the members of the association had in the meantime given up on the project. Out of the people who was originally part of the project from way back in 2003-2004, there were now only 4 still remaining. Since the authorization was given people came back quickly though and the lists were filled up again. New members may join the association and are offered building plots according to the waiting list, see the website.