Local government simply isn’t local enough

This last weekend I wrote congratulating friends here on their re-election as councillors. And commiserating with one strong candidate who did not get elected. It is good that such people are prepared to put their names forward for election at local government level.

But I could not help wondering just how local is our “local” government. As the pre-election leaflets arrived it seemed that the local agenda was being hijacked by national considerations and that the results last Friday were being eagerly awaited and interpreted as indicators of attitudes towards party political interests and Scotland’s future constitutional status.

The neglect of local government is not just recent, though it has reached an extreme form over the last few years. It has been there over many years and is a responsibility shared between the main political parties since the 1980s. A plague on all their houses for failing to grasp that vibrant, responsive, independent minded, far sighted, properly funded and skilled local government is essential in the governance of a modern state.

Instead of seeing local government as an equal partner in government we have experienced the worst aspects overcentralised, over-bearing national administrations. The United Kingdom has a highly centralised system of government and we now, in the name of decentralisation and devolution, appear to have our own authoritarian version here at Holyrood. The energy and initiative which should reside locally has been sucked into the centre. As a consequence local government has been disempowered and there is the realisation locally that decisions affecting our communities are being taken elsewhere.

Scotland has a proud tradition. I was one of a number of planners who came north to join the Scottish Development Department in the 1970s. There was the realisation that Scotland was doing special things by virtue of its autonomy in planning matters, the scale of the country and its separate legal system. At very senior levels in Government were people who not only understood the importance of planning as an activity but had political support through the post-war Beveridge contract. This distinctive Scottish approach has dissipated.

I am not clear if the situation is recoverable or if the rot is too deeply established. Certainly I see no way back unless and until attitudes change at central government level. And there seems no immediate prospect of that.

ANDREW ROBINSON Haddington, East Lothian