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The Government’s opening proposition for discussion is that our current local government arrangements are replaced with a smaller number (6 to 10) of regional authorities focussing on strategic decision-making, with a substantial number (120-160) of community authorities focused on local decision-making. While there may be a general model in most cases, recognising their unique status and needs, our proposition is that this would sit alongside bespoke solutions for island communities.
Community authorities would sit within the borders of regional authorities, with the aim that community authorities would see ‘burgh/county/town/district/island’ authorities based on identifiable communities. For example, this could include areas such as Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, or Leith in Edinburgh, or Blairgowrie and Rattray in Perthshire, it could be townships, villages or islands.
We would propose that councillors would continue to be elected at the current ward level, sitting on both the community authority and on the associated regional authority. This would improve local decision-making and enable greater strategic working, without the necessity of a further layer of elections or creating additional tiers of bureaucracy. The same overall regional administrative or corporate structures would support both regional and community authorities. The aim is to have greater subsidiarity with more local decision making but supported by the efficiency of delivery by regional structures.
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https://www.gov.scot/publications/public-sector-reform-proposal/#page-top
This is going to be a fun consultation…

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