Staden (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstaːdə(n)]; West Flemish: Stoan [stɒːn]) is a village and rural municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality has around 11 000 inhabitants.

Staden
Flag of Staden
Coat of arms of Staden
Location of Staden
Map
Staden is located in Belgium
Staden
Staden
Location in Belgium
Location of Staden in West Flanders
Coordinates: 50°59′N 03°01′E / 50.983°N 3.017°E / 50.983; 3.017
Country Belgium
CommunityFlemish Community
RegionFlemish Region
ProvinceWest Flanders
ArrondissementRoeselare
Government
 • MayorFrancesco Vanderjeugd [1]
 • Governing party/iesOpen Vld
Area
 • Total46.82 km2 (18.08 sq mi)
Population
 (2018-01-01)[2]
 • Total11,376
 • Density240/km2 (630/sq mi)
Postal codes
8840
NIS code
36019
Area codes051
Websitewww.staden.be

In the local West-Flemish dialect, the d is not pronounced, which results in Stoan as pronunciation.

Geography

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In 1976, Staden fused with the smaller villages of Oostnieuwkerke and Westrozebeke into a single municipality. As Staden was the bigger village, its name was used for the resulting municipality. Next to those three village centres, there are also a number of smaller hamlets. At the boundary between Staden, Westrozebeke and Poelkapelle, you can find the hamlet Vijfwegen. And on the boundary between Oostnieuwkerke and Hooglede, you can find the hamlet Sleihage. Both these hamlets had their own church and parish. The remaining population is spread over even smaller hamlets.

# Name Area (km²) Population (31/12/2009)
I Staden 25,43 5.424
II Oostnieuwkerke 10,80 3.447
III
(IV)
Westrozebeke
- Vijfwegen
10,00
 
2.181
 
Source: Website gemeente Staden

The municipality of Staden borders the following villages and municipalities:

 
Staden with its part-municipalities and neighbours.

History

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The village of Staden was founded nearby the castle of Staden, around 1100. That castle was built in the forests, near the road between Ypres and Bruges. The castle of Staden fell mostly under the control of Ypres, but also partially under the control of Bruges.[3] The castle itself was completely destroyed in 1917, during the First World War. Only a part of the moat remains, and a bench built from the stones of the old castle.

Politics

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Staden has always been known as a Christian-democrat municipality, like so many other rural municipalities in West Flanders, where the CVP and later CD&V always held the majority or even absolute majority of the seats, and thus was always able to deliver the mayor.

However, after the election of 2012, it appeared that the Christian-democrats only got 10 of the 21 seats. On the evening of the counting, the three opposition parties: Open Vld, N-VA and sp.a got to an agreement and formed the majority with 11 of 21 seats. After the inauguration in 2013, Francesco Vanderjeugd [nl] from the Open Vld was the mayor of Staden. But the tight majority where all seats are needed caused some troubles. Near the end of 2014, Koen Demonie threatened to leave the N-VA, which would cost the majority one seat, and would make the municipality ungovernable.[4]

Mayors of Staden since the fusion

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Voting results and seat division since the fusion

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Resultaten gemeenteraadsverkiezingen sinds 1976

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Party 10-10-1976[5] 10-10-1982 9-10-1988 9-10-1994 8-10-2000 8-10-2006[6] 14-10-2012[7]
Votes / Seats % 21 % 21 % 21 % 21 % 21 % 21 % 21
CVP1/CD&V2 50,291 11 42,781 10 48,211 12 57,211 12 57,881 12 60,122 14 41,92 10
N-VA - - - - - - 26,89 6
SP1/sp.a2 - 13,981 2 8,631 1 - - - 8,442 1
AKTIE 36,77 8 - 21,47 4 - - - -
NIEUW 12,95 2 - - - - - -
PVV/Open Vld - 8,56 1 21,68 4 - - - 22,77 4
AKTIE-N - 34,68 8 - - - - -
SAMEN - - - 42,79 9 42,12 9 32,46 7 -
V.V.D.S. - - - - - 7,42 0 -
Total number of votes 7744 7915 7993 8063 8063 8219 8155
Attendance % 96,51 96,21 95,17 95,96 94,31
Blank and invalid % 3,06 3,49 4,5 5,53 6,23 5,84 5,42

References

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  1. ^ Vansteenkiste, Arne. "Kan Vanderjeugd (24) een coalitie leiden?".
  2. ^ "Wettelijke Bevolking per gemeente op 1 januari 2018". Statbel. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Historiek". Archived from the original on 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  4. ^ LEENKNEGT, STEVEN. "Raadslid Koen Demonie verlaat N-VA en kan meerderheid maken of kraken".
  5. ^ "Verkiezingsdatabase".
  6. ^ "Verkiezingen van 8 oktober 2006 - Resultaten".
  7. ^ "Startpagina - Lokale verkiezingen 2012".
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  •   Media related to Staden at Wikimedia Commons