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.
