Scotland’s council system would be radically reshaped with the return of regional and district authorities under proposals from the Scottish Greens to move decision making closer to local communities.
The party wants the current structure of 32 councils replaced by a two tier system, arguing that some existing authorities are too large to provide genuinely local government while others lack the scale needed for strategic planning.
The proposals have been published ahead of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government and form part of a wider package of changes being put forward by the Greens for local government.
Under the plans, District Councils would provide the most local level of democratic representation and give communities a greater say over decisions affecting their areas.
Larger Regional Councils would operate across wider areas and take responsibility for services and strategic planning where greater scale is required.
The structure would mark a significant change from the current system of 32 single tier councils and revive elements of the regional and district model previously used in Scotland.
The Greens argue that the existing structure has left some local authorities covering areas so large that they struggle to operate as genuinely local government.
At the same time, the party believes having 32 separate authorities can make it more difficult to plan strategically for challenges extending beyond individual council boundaries.
The proposals also include measures intended to transfer more power to communities and reform the way local government is funded.
That includes replacing council tax, which the Greens describe as broken and unfair, with a different system for funding local services.
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.”
