Initial fears that devolution would lead to the centralisation of power at the Scottish national level have been supported by the experience of Scotland's community councils since the establishment of devolution in 1999.
This is the view of the Association of Scottish Community Councils in evidence submitted to the (Calman) Commission on Scottish Devolution. ASCC argued that the major beneficiaries of devolution have been the big players such as the four major political parties, the Scottish Parliament and the local authorities. Scotland's local communities, as judged the experience of Scotland's 1200 local community councils, have not witnessed any major positive improvement in their standing and the modest resources that go to them - and this despite manifesto commitments from three of the major parties in the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections.
The ASCC evidence which was drafted by ASCC Vice-President Norman Bonney and endorsed by the ASCC Executive Council can be found at;
www.commissiononscottishdevolution.org.uk/uploads/2008-09-02-association-of-scottish-community-councils.pdf
