Redrawing the boundaries
Did you peruse The Herald this morning? Intriguing front page headlined "Is it time to redraw the council map of Scotland?"
Given these troubled times, the short answer to that might well be: "No, next question."
That short answer would be predicated upon a wish to avoid disrupting local authorities at a time when they have been placed in the front line of deploying public spending to counter the downturn/recession.
Redrawing the council map would be a huge task. Let nobody think differently. There would be endless argument, local inquiries, the lot.
Do we really want our local politicians distracted when they should be focused on mitigating economic decline?
To be fair, the Herald is alert to alternatives - such as sharing back office functions.
Does Scotland, they ask, really need 32 Directors of Education (and Social Work and....) plus their attendant staff numbers?
Pooled efforts
Good question. However, if we are to have this debate, then perhaps we need to start with a more fundamental inquiry still.
What is the purpose of local government? Is it to act as a delivery mechanism for central government objectives and targets?
If so, then efficiency would suggest that there should be savings to be made in that the individual directors will have little real discretion.
They could comfortably pool their efforts.
Herewith a snag, though. To whom would these shared directors be accountable? To their "own" council - which has farmed them out to neighbouring authorities?
To the various councils collectively which employ their services? What if those councils pursue different policies - and are of different political colours?
Perhaps, then, to the central administration - in that the bulk of the funding comes from that source?
Democratic mandate
It has long struck me that the key decision-making function of local authorities - as opposed to administrative functions - is planning.
That is where the democratic mandate rests. Do we, the citizens of Anytown, want more industrial development - or do we want green belt?
Do we, those same citizens, broadly favour social housing or upmarket estates?
How is that mandate exercised? Through local councils? Through larger authorities, still single tier but straddling a region?
If through those larger councils, then would you need genuine area decision making? Maybe the genuine questions are not about the map - but about the remit.
I'm 
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Couln't agree more, Brian. This is not the right time and when the time is right, we need more fundamental reform. Now that devolution is embedded, why do we need local government at all for 5m people? The big spending services and the strategic services (usually the same) should be run by government agencies (eg'Educate Scotland'). As for the smaller sercices such as libraries, parks, etc - why do we need political control over these? I take your point about planning, but we have national planning guidelines, so the local decisions could be taken by local planning boards of some sort. If such change is considered, let's not just throw hundreds on the dole, let's do it in a planned and phased way with retaraining, etc
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Councils should be run on non-political lines. However that will never happen.
If they are serious, then they can draw the lines so that South Lanarkshire disappears!
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Neil_Small147:
#2.
"Councils should be run on non-political lines. However that will never happen."
Please explain how this could work.
If we had councils made out of independents then the chances are they'll form groups of their own to pass their agenda through the council which they are apart of.
It would be political parties in a different form.
However, I do not see why we should change the council bounderies at this moment of time. It would same fine if they planned to change it in future, hence why they are planning now, but I do hope that it all remains the same. At least for one or two years, whenever the light begins to shine at the end of this long, dark... recession...
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I agree that local council responsibilities should be reduced, if we are sticking with a Scottish Parliament.
However, SNP would have to alter their fiscal tactics. So far they have made savings by devolving existing responsibilities and new duties to local councils, without giving them sufficient money to undertake the extra work.
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Brian
By all means consider a reduction in authorities but the administrative problems delivering a, say, education policy north and west of Perth + Aberdeen and south of Carstairs are not the problems of the middle slice and the solutions in such dispersed areas are likely to cost much more per student. What will be the "Barnet" formula for creating equality of opportunity for the lad from Wick with the lass from Whiflet?
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#2 Neil, I need to join Thomas in asking how that would work. These individuals need to be elected, and the only way to get non-party majorities outwith say Orkney and Shetland would be to ban the major political parties. You need to ask yourself then, how democratic would that be?
Not everyone has the time or inclination to get to know their local (independent or otherwise) councillor in person. Often the councillors are less than forthcoming themselves. However local voters can far more easily agree with the platform forwarded by a local party; even if their real understanding of the detail is extremely limited, in some cases.
Ask any party activist or politician at any level the way in which modern parties grow and maintain their support is via local councillors and the informal groups of friends/well-wishers around them. The best way to analyze the chances of any one party taking a Westminster or Holyrood seat for example, is to look at the strength of its council representation as compared to that of the encumbents.
For all these reasons I believe the system we have currently is better than anything we have seen in decades as PRep keeps majorities in line (with the obvious exception of Glasgow, and South Lanarkshire I believe)?
I have to agree with Brian's point that now is hardly the time. Also, how often can these boundaries be redrawn - when I went through school, we had the switch over from Strathclyde to (in my case) North Ayrshire ... in the grand scheme of things that wasn't all that long ago.
Also, if we are now in a centralizing mood (again), then do we go back to an absurdity like "Strathclyde" - where Argyll and Bute fall under the same jurisdiction as Paisley etc ... ?
I would rather have 32 heads of education etc ... than 1 individual governing the early lives of half the population from a 'council office'.
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newsjock:
#4.
"However, SNP would have to alter their fiscal tactics. So far they have made savings by devolving existing responsibilities and new duties to local councils, without giving them sufficient money to undertake the extra work."
Jeez... where have you been since the SNP took power at Holyrood?
Of course, please feel to correct me if I am wrong but I do believe that both the Scottish Goverment and COSLA agreed on the financial packages. In otherwords, the Scottish Goverment offered more money to local councils, and in return local councils would be expected to commit to their manifesto pledges... it was accepted.
Some councils are managing fine, others are not coping. High energy prices and unexpected high inflation has also contributed to certain councils struggling financially, Aberdeen City Council in particular has no available funds due to Unionist Parties overspending in past years.
Is this all the Governments fault? Nope, but thankfully I managed to help correct you. Perhaps in future you will not make the same mistake twice and give out false information.
;-)
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Given that Scotland has a population smaller than Greater London by at least two million, and that London is run by a mayor and GLA, there surely are economies that could be made in the costs of governance. London also has of course councils for each of the boroughs, so Scotland could argue that to scrap everything outside Holyrood would be step too far, and I would agree. Smaller but better is the way to go.
Interestingly I read today that the Tories are proposing reducing the number of Westminster constituencies if they win power. I have long wondered how they justify so many MP's when most UK legislation now arrives from Brussels. Some of them will certainly be Scottish seats which will no doubt provoke cries of anguish from some that Scotland's influence would be diluted, but as she has her own parliament it would seem a reasonable step, together with ensuring that all MPs throughout the UK have a similar number of consituents
We all have far too many politicians and their advisors interfering in our lives. Perhaps if we do see meaningful reductions in order to save the public purse this recession may have had a silver lining after all.
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MalcolmW2:
It is rather difficult to compare Greater London and Scotland. By taking into account that Greater London does have a larger population then Scotland, Greater London is much smaller then Scotland...
The difficulties lie in the area rather then population levels I believe. You can not have something like Scotland all under one roof, but perhaps something more efficient could be created instead.
"Some of them will certainly be Scottish seats which will no doubt provoke cries of anguish from some that Scotland's influence would be diluted, but as she has her own parliament it would seem a reasonable step, together with ensuring that all MPs throughout the UK have a similar number of consituents."
It's a fair point that Scotland does have her own Parliament, while each MP should have a similar amount of consituents. It all depends how you see Scotland. Are we apart of Britain as a region? Or apart of the United Kingdom as one of the 'Kingdoms' (country's) united under one banner? Even with our own Parliment Scotland does not have control of all the powers which is decided by Westminister. If Scotland is apart of the United Kingdom as a country in her own right, then why be outvoted by our partner? Strange type of democracy... especailly between 'equal' partners.
Oh, by the way. Your point about Scotland having her own Parliament is irrelavent. If the Tories were in power and lowered the amount of MP's Britain has, including Scotland's then under the Tories, England would be given more control over her domestic issues similar to the other parts of the United Kingdom...
Each part of the United Kingdom may be doing their own thing once the Conservaties come into power. Interesting times...
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hmmmm seem to remember john major calling strathclyde regional council a monstrosity because it was too big for its own good altho prob didnt like it because it was too labour dominated too so what then back to the future hmmm the reason for council change in 1996 was that decions made in glasgow affected people in ayr there was little local accountability and the people felt distanced fom the power making decisions
do we need to reogrinise again i dont think so larger councils = cost saving but then maybe at a price of local accountabiliy
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Malcolm (8),
Given that Scotland has a population about the size of the average German Land, American State, and twice the size of Australian States or Canadian Provinces, each of which has far more local authorities than Scotland's 32, might we at some appropriate time, consider making "local" government a wee bit more local?At the moment, Scotland has one of the most concentrated and centralised systems of so-called local government in the civilised world
And, on top of that, due to central funding (as opposed to locally determined, locally raised and allocated) any idea of "local" democracy is a complete illusion.
Slainte!
ed
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I say no. Leave as is at the moment. Good point about accountability though, saddly it is non existent in the public sector. If this was addressed I bet we'd see some savings.
Salaries of cheif execs/directors etc is obscene. They claim this is to atract the best business brains. Fair enough if they were "streamlined" when they messed up. But they are not, they are in a perverse way patted on the back and rewarded. Then just go about there merry little fantasy throwing money here and there and smiling on T.V. as if it's some kinda fairy dust that will magically turn the place into wonderland. Unfortunately they've run outta magic dust.
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Again it amazes me how little most of you know about Scotland outside the central belt. The Highland council is and has nearly always been run by a group of independant councillors.
Council issues need not be determined along party political lines. We have a culture of such decision making in the Highlands and it has in the main served us well. It is intersting that this has only been challenged by the imposition of party politics in the form of proportional representation which has changed the face of local government but not for the better.
The redrawing of the Council boundaries does have some merit. Smaller council decision making areas would be good, but using shared services. This is a model the Highland Council is trying to develop but isn't quite there yet.
However this needs to be viewed in the context of Holyrood, in Scotland we do have to examine just how much government we need and where decision making best lies.
I feel independence will only work and be seriously considered by the unconvinced majority if this issue is dealt with.
Within Scotland we have very different communities with very different needs. I firmly believe that communities must have more say in their own destiny. With as much power devolved from the centre as possible.
This issue does need some specific consideration, along with the fact that Politicians need to be more accountable. The spread of PR makes them a lot less accountable.
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Good grief: not again! For reasons of politics, inertia, public opinion and nostalgia there can never be a "perfect" breakdown into local authority areas, whatever that might actually mean anyway.
Take a look at the huge (and doubtless hugely costly) dislocation which took place in 1975: and then the next in 1996, which in some areas simply undid what had been done in 1975.
Then take a look at where people actually say they live. "Ross-shire" still appears in many addresses, a county which actually ceased to exist in 1890. To say that in too many cases repeated reorganisation has simply caused people to lose touch with local governenment, or cease to care, may seem an argument for change. It isn't: a further wrong won't put this right.
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Exactly Brian:
We have had boundary changes since the 1970's and yet things are a bigger mess than ever. The old Strathclyde region which was once rubbished by the Tories used to keep our roads in good repair. My families' experience makes us suggest that local schools have to some extent suffered also.
"Local government" should be exactly that: LOCAL.
Libraries, rubbish collection etc. should be run locally. We have had enough redrawing of maps. Edinburgh (not very local for us) should stop trying to set local budgets to fit political schemes of their own.
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#13.
Quite true. However we do see small groups forming, even between political parties and independents in the Highlands.
"Within Scotland we have very different communities with very different needs. I firmly believe that communities must have more say in their own destiny. With as much power devolved from the centre as possible."
You have went the wrong way about it. With what powers they have already, Aberdeen City Council have practically destroyed what they had in less then 10 years.
I do believe Government should devolve powers to local authorities but it's important that we create a system where the Scottish Government provides the checks and balances towards councils.
Perhaps local councils can do as they please but the Scottish Goverment could veto their decisions if deemed careless?
But I don't feel safe with councils having more powers...
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3. At 2:57pm on 14 Jan 2009, Thomas_Porter wrote:
Neil_Small147:
#2.
"Councils should be run on non-political lines. However that will never happen."
Please explain how this could work.
-----------------
It would only work if those who stood as councillors were there for the good of the community - not self gain.
Many councillors are there with ambitions of becoming an MP or MSP. Many have to follow the whip (confirmed by a councillor to me) and lose sight of local issues.
In addition, they will fill posts which they are totally ill-equipped to handle, especially planning.
I'm speaking from the experience of my council.
Anyone who finally gets round to gritting the roads after seven days and a public outcry, only to start after a thaw sets in, needs sorted. The gritting was curtailed - under the direction of councillors - to save money. The resultant accidents and injuries and costs to other areas of the public sector exceeded the savings.
I'm ranting a bit here. I'm quite sure there are many competent councillors out there, but apparently not close to home.
As for changing the regions. WHY? A huge cost for administration changes but no resulting improvement in services.
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On Integration, Consolidation, Reorganisation, etc...
"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams,
we would be reorganised.
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progresswhile producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation."
Caius Petronius, AD 66
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people for get also in 1996 the then tory scottish office took water out of local authority control and formed the 3 west east and north water authorities today know as scottish water hey who remembers the strathcylde regional council ref on water now today scottish water is answerable only to the scottish govt theres no elected councillors that sit on the board either mind u the old water and draingages services provided by the old regional councils were a mess anyway underinvestment and so on
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The trouble with PartiesKeep it small and local.
"I ken whaur ye stay!"
ed
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It sounds great. Councils run on non-political grounds. It doesn't work and all the worst councils in Scotland have been the ones run by this or other group of "independents".
The tend to have no agreed agenda , no defined aims and no ambitions (bar keeping dog sh*t off the pavements) and the councillors on them are interested in their own re-election above all else.
Having a council run by a disciplined group in power operating to an agreed course of action being harassed and held to account continuously be a disciplined and coordinated opposition is the best way to run councils and provides the best deal for the voter.
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This may not be the time to spend the cash required to reform councils, but they must be reformed.Councils are now totally out of control, run not by elected councillors but by bureacrats, unelected and unaccountable, who treat the taxpayer with contempt and walk over the elected and powerless councillors at will. As Brian says , why does the country need tens of chief execs. finance directors etc. who in the main seem to be incapable of running their councils within budget. In the past they relied on annual unjustified rises in the rates or the council tax to cover their incompetence at the expense of the taxpayer. This of course cannot , and and must not be allowed to continue. Like national government they must be trimmed, not just in cosmetic fashion but by as much as can be managed without total collapse. They must be made accountable to the taxpayer somehow or other, not by another quango of the great and the good but by a proper body with the power to remove the innefficient without hesitation or interference from the body politic.
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Like everything in the UK it has been designed by addons change of boundaries etc with no end goal blueprint. Why not start with a blank canvas and work out a system that will suit every region forgetting cost etc. Then work back to something which is more realistic in these hard pressed times which can then be taken forward as per original plan!
I would remove the funny handshake brigade for a start it should be about competency.
Bear in mind that the Tories will be running Westminster next Warning of super-sized constituencies under Tory proposals.
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I read the article in this mornings 'Herald' on this subject and would like to make the following observation. Here in the Outer Hebrides until the mid-seventies, we had the majority of our administration delivered from away. A visitor to the islands at this time would have found many of the rural population still living in what was by mainland standards quite backward conditions. Most of the working population on Lewis and Harris were working in the traditional industries, crofting, weaving, fishing, etc. However with the inception of the Comhairle in the mid-seventies, the islands changed beyond recognition. Having local representation has meant that for the past 30 plus years we have had a voice. Prior to this, the islands were regarded as a backwater with their mainland based administrations having other priorities.
The other huge benefit the Comhairle brought to the islands was jobs. They are easily the largest employer on the islands and this employment has raised the living standards of many to be the equal of many other parts of Scotland.
Any savings made by the reduction of authority or removal of the Comhairle would have a calamitous impact on these islands and their economy, possibly to a point where so many of the population would have to leave in search of work, as to make the islands no longer viable.
Although I don't always agree with decisions made by our Comhairle, I recognise that for the most part they have a love for their home islands and a desire to see them remain viable.
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#77 - frank, you appear to think that a founding pillar of a free society is the tolerance of faith-based schools. But, who's freedom are we protecting? The children's? With less generous commetators likening religious indoctrination with child abuse, should the allowance of faith-based schools be the default position? How many recoiled in horror when that pillar of virtue, Phony B.Liar, defended the private Creationist school set up by a NuLab funder? A school where science took second place behind superstitious nonsense that even Papel doctrine rejects.
Yes, religious education in non-denomination schools hardly compares to that in Roman Catholic schools, and comes nowhere near being a substitute. However, though you view that as a a bad thing. many do not.
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#85 - Frank, the power of the Church is greatly diminished these days. Although it still holds "some" power in the central belt, the only man in black that holds sway with the majority of Scots (or at least the male portion) runs a pitch with 22 footballers. After all, in the run up to Glenrothes, we had priests and cardinal decrying NuLab as immoral in an attempt to encourage the faithful to vote for other parties. The result, NuLab's vote increased.
There is a problem in attempting to abolish state faith-based schools, in that they, or at least the Roman Catholic variety, are guaranteed by Scots law. Does Holyrood have the power to reverse that or would it need to go to Westminster? Westminster, who have no real experience or appreciation of "Scotland's Shame", would be reluctant to spend the time or attract the negative press involved in repealing such legislation.
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#21 sneckedagain
I agree whole heartedly with what you said. Party politics are far from perfect but they are better than any alternative, e.g., a one party state like that in China or the 'independents' you mentioned.
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#25, #26 - Don't believe that, posted these in the wrong blog!!
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I was amazed to read the front page of the Herald today. For a serious newspaper to give such publicity to one man's (Tom McCabe) crusade was unprecedented. As far as I'm aware, no party is pushing this. Indeed, even when he was a minister he could not persuade his colleagues to carry out this plan.
It is surely better to address the inefficiencies in our current councils than waste huge amounts in redrawing council boundaries.
To take the efficiency argument to it's ultimate conclusion, why have local councils at all?
Those, such as north_highlander, make a good point. Councils need to respond to local needs. I've lived in both rural and urban Scotland and the needs of areas differ greatly.
I'm not surprised that died in the wool Labour types think this is a good idea, but then again is that not one of the reasons they got chucked out?
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Redrawing lines on the council map sitting in Victoria Quay or Holyrood would simply give work to idle hands. If we are serious about service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness then local government must be enabled (through power) and encouraged (through financial benefit) to make change happen itself. For example, an 'invest to reform' fund could easily attract the 3 Ayrshire Councils to share a wide range of services, it would certainly tempt the City Region groupings to look more carefully at bringing their big ticket infrastructure responsibilities together and it would, of course, allow political groups in neighbouring councils the cover they sometimes require to get across the council boundary.
It is obviously true that we don't need 32 education authorities and the government should be more robust in dealing with the failing ones (by inviting others to mount service takeovers) but a scotland-wide education authority would be a very different beast from, say a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service!
Above all, the template mentality that has produced a one-size-fits-all attitude to service provision has to be replaced with local diversity, led by local decisions that reflect the aims and aspirations of the communities involved.
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I am surprised that the Herald proposals include the whole highlands and Islands except Arran and Bute. I can't imagine why this should be so.
There is considerable truth in the suggestion that unelected council officials run things as they want, but this is most obviously the case in weak " independent" councils.
In councils run by a strong political group the officials operate on instruction but unfortunately very often dance exactly to the admistration's tune whether it is proper or not .
The same prevails in Health Boards stuffed with appointees of the previous administration.
The level of the wages of high officials is very questionable and I would say that local councils are at least 30% overstaffed - a legacy of the nepotism that has infected most of these councils during Labour's time in power. I would imagine that John Swinney's drive for council efficiency will begin to sort this out.
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There are many competent people who work for councils at all levels.
Unfortunately, there are also quite a few people who are way above their professional ceiling.
There are also a number of councillors who are professional politicians: some are very efficient at helping their constituents, but when it comes to major level projects they simply do not have a clue.
If a councillor wishes to hold a position of responsibility such as planning, then they should either have professional experience or be put onto a course. These people get a "responsibility allowance" to take on these roles. But the only accountability is via the electorate, and in Scotland they are pretty safe now thanks to the PR system.
Perhaps they should be made legally responsible for projects.
But I'm in cloud cuckoo land since this will never happen.
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oh, and the islands could easily consider cross service integration and the creation of Single Public Authorities, bringing the council, the health board, what's left of the local enterprise network together with some justice functions and the support services for the blue lights, thereby generating efficiencies and offering stronger, more varied career opportunities for public sector workers.
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Come to Aberdeenshire home of planning democracy!
Well not really..... Our planners asked developers for development proposals for the next local plan before asking communities their opinion. Brilliant!
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The Herald - what's that?
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Did we not have this before, called Regional councils? But people felt they were to distant and went back to local representation.
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snecked again
You are completely wrong in your comments about independant councils. A large portion of councillors in the Highlands have served to promote the communities they live in. Not to slavishly follow a party line but to represent their communities.
Issues are dealt with in a much less partizan way. Highland is a generally well run council, especially when compared to the likes of Aberdeen.
Anyway the main effect of of PR is to turn councils into organisations to be used to grant favour from political parties, further disjointing the people from democracy.
It would be a major step forward if we reorganised to restore links to local communities and made democracy relevant to people again.
Thomas Porter:
I totally disagree with your comments on councils having more power. this is the way forward, let local communities come up with solutions to their own problems, less dictation from the centre.
This is my main gripe against holyrood, it governs entirely for the central belt, for remote areas we have replaced Westmister domination with Holyrood domination and see no improvement.
We need a settlement that restores local democracy, not devalue it further.
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Re 31
We are well into the SNP government and there is little difference to local government efficiency. John swinney's efforts in this area are as good as the SFT.
The SNP have centralised more than labour did, if the LIT comes into effect this will further tighten Holyrood control over local government.
Surely if communities were given more power they would vote for councils that were more efficient?
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#37 northhighlander
I hope we are still talking after a was too flippant for you last time, but I have to say I agree with you. Keeping it local is the way to go. Doesn't necessarily mean wasting more money.
In the small communities near where I live, it is really impressive what is achieved. There is also very successfull fundraising for community projects that need it. (We have a modern playpark, school has a climbing wall etc.)
The great plus for it all is not just that things are tackled more sympathetically, and more people are included (therefore widening your net over more talented interested parties), but that it has a tremendous boosing effect on community spirit. And we all know that's dying out. :-)
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#37
I am not completely wrong about independent councils.
I did not mention Highland council by name and there are those who would disagree substantially with your assement there
anyway.
No independent Council has ever figured anywhere near the top of the Audit commissions annual asseesment of service delivery and many near the bottom are independent councils. Having lived in both independent and political run areas I know which council provided me with the best level of service - and by a long way.
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In my #39 to #37 northhighlander
!!!
That should say 'boosting', not 'boosing'!
!!!
Everyone will want to live in my local council area now!
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re40
Those who would disagree, and I accept that there are those who legitamtely feel that way, who are wedded to the two and a half party system.
This is the reason that politics is held in such low esteem by the public, the parties are so entrenched that objectivity is lost.
I had hoped the SNP would change this being a minority government. however it is really business as usual. Name calling, entrenched party lines, forget about the public.
Highland may not top the table, but we have stable local government in a geographically difficult area, issues no other council has to deal with, issues ignored by the centre when carving up the funds.
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Ah the great Highland independents.
No truth in the scurrilous local view that they generally tend to be closet Tories (farmers, businessmen and women etc) or if not some form of unionist whose common ground, like their still bewildered equivalents at Holyrood is how to connive together to get rid of the upstart SNP?
In fact didn't they manage just that at Inverness council last summer?
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I've not seen The Herald map, but I would look for boundaries to be coterminous with other key boundaries like those of the Health boards.
I think the remote islands need their own councils, and that rural areas should largely be unchanged, but in the Central Belt there can be quick wins by merging the Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire councils. Just don't spend all the cash on early retirements!
Police services could also merge, possibly even into one, and certainly the very small ones should go.
It might be an idea to remove Social Work and Education functions from local authorities, then at least the money raised from local taxation and business rates would roughly cover the cost of council spending.
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#42 northhighlander
Thanks.
"This is the reason that politics is held in such low esteem by the public, the parties are so entrenched that objectivity is lost.
I had hoped the SNP would change this being a minority government. however it is really business as usual. Name calling, entrenched party lines, forget about the public."
You could be right that the SNP could pick up quite a few votes with that. Many would think it sounds good - plenty are disillusioned. Especially as the SNP is an umbrella party for independence as much as a political party in the traditional sense, in that people vote SNP who like independence but who may dislike their other policies.
But how would it, practically, be achieved? Given that the other parties would have to toe the same line, would it become very difficult? Maybe not.
I've probably accepted the status quo on this because at least Holyrood isn't as bogged down in the two party choice and the endless back-and-fore of it all like Westminster. I'm attributing that to PR.
Whatever though, I see UK Westminster politics as suffering from a cancer, as I've described. Hope is dispelled.
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Councils have always wasted money, Strathclyde was too big the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing and certainly working better for the city than the rural and island areas.
I see on the BBC Scotland Website, that Audit Scotland has criticised the manner in which the Scottish Government used consultancy firms and ooh and ahhh at how much money was wasted .
It is a pity that it is not emphasising that it was the PREVIOUS incumbents the report is criticising.
Those in power in 2006/ 2007 were the Labour/Liberal co wasters.
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I have felt for some time that the Scotlands?s current councils are too small to be efficient amnd too large to be truly local. I would like to see teht various ?regional? bodies (Health boards, fire, police, transport partnerships and probably some others) redrawn so that they share the same boundaries (they are quite close to this in most cases), and then about 6-8 regional autoriyes formed to cover these, plus probably education and social services. Other serices could then be devolved down to comuntiy/burgh/city councils. The smaller copuncisl at this level could co-operate voluntarily to run service such as refuse collections and libraries.
The regional authorities and city/large burgh councils would most likely still be run on political lines, but I would imagine that community/ small burgh councils would largely be non-partiasanr.
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DJW (36),
Oh yeah?Complain about this comment
Nhighlander?
"This is my main gripe against holyrood, it governs entirely for the central belt, for remote areas we have replaced Westmister domination with Holyrood domination and see no improvement."
Its a good bit better than governing entirely for the SE of England from westminster, especially now we have someone from the north taking it to task as it should be. Things are moving, no? I know exactly what you mean but where do you suggest parliament should be? Personally, I think New Byth would be a good place. Or somehwere like Grantown on Spey, somewhere geographically central in Scotland right smack bang in the middle o the sticks.
(I can just imagine all the "should've/could've/would've been politicians who try to practise on this site squirming right now) ;-)
It's good to laff.
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No thanks to an 'Ayrshire' Council too. The idea that the decisions could be made in Ayr and have implications stretching from Skelmorlie in the North to Ballantrae and beyond in the South is not attractive.
If anything we should be seeking to strengthen local democracy, not acting to undermine it by taking decision-making further away from the people. In addition, this is hardly the time to enact such changes when councils are already in financial difficulty (largely due to poor fiscal advice from the Westminster parliament).
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#49 waitingformyman
"I think New Byth would be a good place."
Ah, Byth. It is a fantastic place! Deseves a mention as it's added a certain something to a great many jokes - it can be referred to in any context... You've just added another level! Great choice, Waiting :->
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There was a lot to be said for the previous system with Regional Councils, which could provide economy of scale and strategic ambitions, and district council which were locally very accountable, operating together at the same time.
The only problem about this was the cost.
There was no need to have two sets of councillors for this system.
The same councillors could have sensibly served on both bodies which would have been more economical and much more efficient.
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