COMMUNITY COUNCILS AND POLITICAL PARTIES

The City of Edinburgh Council is currently engaged in a final round of consultation on its proposals for a revised scheme governing the city’s 41 community councils. It decided at a recent special meeting that it would retain a provision in the city’s scheme whereby local political party branches have the right to nominate candidates for election to the local interest group sections of community councils.

Edinburgh’s community council scheme is unique in that it allows up to one third of the membership of each community council to be nominated by local community groups. Usually these nominations are uncontested but occasionally, and perhaps more frequently in the future, these nominations could be contested. Because of the problems that arose in relation to the election of the community council in Craigmillar in 2006 the council has revised and upgraded its criteria which determine whether local interest groups may put forward a nomination for election this way.

It is actually debatable whether the city council scheme should allow political parties to nominate candidates for election to the local interest group section of community councils. The general practice has evolved across Scotland whereby community councils are generally regarded as non party-political.

On the other hand it can reasonably be argued that local party branches are an important source of local community initiative and energy and thus should have the right to seek to be involved in community councils.

However, open party political affiliation seems to go against the central idea of community councils and if more political parties and local community groups become more actively interested in representation on community councils as local interest groups then there are likely to be more contested elections for this form of representation with the increasing likelihood that this will lead to political parties campaigning against one another in an open and partisan way.

There may be some public gain from this situation. Under the new arrangements if political parties put forward candidates the internal governance of their local party branches will have to be vetted for standards of competence and integrity in order for the nominations to go forward. This may put council officials that conduct this task under unfair pressure from city councillors but it might raise the standard of conduct of local party branches.

Perhaps, too, in reaching its decision the City Council thought only of the four political parties represented in the council chamber. But there are more parties active in communities and contesting the Scottish, Westminster and European Parliaments elections. They too could put forward nominations under the proposed scheme and further pressurise the system.

It seems clear that the City Council should have a full debate, informed by the views of the public and community councils, before it reaches a final decision on this matter on 25 June 2009.

Norman Bonney, Chair, Edinburgh Association of Community Councils. 11/5/09

Devolution beginning to deliver for local communities

Second round of evidence to the Calman Commission on Devolution - February 2009

ASCC's previous evidence to the Commission pointed out that there had been little positive response by the devolved institutions (the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive/Government) to the interests and potentiality of Scotland's community councils.
ASCC can now however report signs of a more positive attitude being forthcoming as a result of its campaigns.

The Scottish Executive/Government has now increased the grant to ASCC so that it can appoint a National Development Officer to support its work in promoting and developing community councils across Scotland and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Executive/Government have reached agreement with ASCC on a national model scheme for community councils which will be promoted around the country.

These are the most positive steps in relation to Scotland's community councils for over a decade. ASCC will continue its efforts to widen appreciation of the roles and potential of community councils as a means to encourage grass roots citizen participation in local governance.

Four of the main Scottish political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament have manifesto commitments relating to community councils and ASCC will continue to encourage them to deliver them. Given the party political situation in the Scottish Parliament it ought to be possible for all parties, as well as the administration, to progress their 2007 election manifesto policies in relation to community councils.

ASCC will also encourage other parties to begin to support the strengthening of community councils.

ASCC is pleased to report that devolution is beginning to deliver for the grass roots in ways which have been previously lacking and would encourage the Commission to express its support for the de-concentration of power from the Scottish centre and for its continuing devolution to local communities through the mechanism of community councils.

Norman Bonney
National Vice-President, Association of Scottish Community Councils, 25 February 2009
www.ascc.org.uk

For more on community councils visit;
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/CommunityCouncils

Turn of the tide for Scotland's community councils?

Scotland's community councils have had an uphill struggle to convince Scotland's governments and local authorities that they are a valuable device for harnessing citizen input into the local governance process and that they deserve full encouragement and support.

There are signs that the campaign of the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) to encourage the Scottish Government to provide it with more support in order to encourage the further development of community councils is beginning to pay off. ASCC is now in a position to recruit a National Development Officer. If you interested in the appointment visit;
http://www.goodmoves.org.uk/

This move is a direct result of the greater responsiveness of the SNP Scottish Government to the case put to them by ASCC. The SNP had ambitious aims for community councils in its 2007 elections manifesto and it is beginning to implement them.

The other Scottish political parties, with one exception, also made election commitments to community councils in 2007. They should not let one party steal a march with its support for community councils. It will be interesting to see how the other political parties make evident their support for community councils in the two years ahead to the next Scottish Parliament elections.