Greens call for return of regional and district councils
On the eve of the Scottish Government's Programme for Government, the Scottish Greens have called for a major shake-up of local councils.
In a new report, the party has called for a return to two-tier councils to bring decision-making closer to communities while giving councils the scale needed to deliver services effectively.
Under the plans, District Councils would provide a strong local democratic voice, while larger Regional Councils would deliver services and plan strategically across wider areas.
The Greens say Scotland’s current 32-council system is an international outlier. Some councils are so large that they struggle to function as genuinely local government, while the system as a whole can be too fragmented to tackle major challenges strategically.
The proposals are part of a wider package of measures to strengthen local democracy, hand more power to communities and replace the broken and unfair council tax system.
Scottish Greens local government spokesperson, Kristopher Leask MSP, said:
“Scotland’s local government system is failing the communities it is supposed to serve. In too many places our councils are simply too big to be truly local, while the system as a whole is too fragmented to plan properly for the future.
“We need to put local democracy back at the heart of local government. District Councils would give local people a direct say over the decisions that affect their neighbourhoods, while Regional Councils would have the scale to deliver services efficiently and tackle the big challenges facing Scotland.
“This would bring decision-making closer to people while making sure councils have the capacity to tackle the big challenges facing our communities.
“After years of centralisation, it is time to stop treating local government as an afterthought. We need to rebuild local democracy, give our councils and communities real power and create a system that works for the people it is meant to serve.
“That must also mean funding our councils properly by finally scrapping the broken council tax system and replacing it with a fairer and better way of funding the local services we all rely on.”