Governance and citizenship

How to empower local democracy in Scotland? How to develop local democracy so it leads to better outcomes? And, moreover, how to best put the people’s concerns at the heart of Scottish political life? All of these questions and more are addressed by the Scottish association of local government (COSLA), through its new Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy.
“Everyone knows that regardless of the outcome of the Referendum the status quo will not prevail in Scotland, but there has been very little consideration of what this should mean for local people and local decision making”, COSLA president David O’Neill remarks as he introduces their vision at the first Commission’s meeting.
 
The Commission started working in October 2013 and is composed of senior councilors, a range of experts, and the wider civil society. Their work will include analysing the current landscape of democracy in Scotland and how it could be strengthened and enriched to benefit local people the most. To this end, COSLA launched a public consultation opened until Friday 20 December 2013, to gather the opinions and suggestions of person wishing to participate in the debate. Following this, the commission will make recommendations that set a course for putting stronger local democracy at the heart of Scotland’s constitutional future. 
 
“Over the decades we have moved away from the local aspect of almost everything. More and more services are being run by distant bureaucracies, and often those services are being done to people rather than delivered with them. Yet across Europe, the opposite is often true. That trend simply won’t see us through for much longer, because it is no coincidence that our European neighbours are often more successful at improving outcomes”, points out O’Neill.