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
Showing posts with label Community Empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community Empowerment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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.
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.
Friday, 18 July 2008
Community Councils and Community Empowerment
ASSOCIATION OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY COUNCILS
www.ascc.org.uk
Draft Policy Statement on Community Councils and Community Empowerment
July 2008
Draft for consultation; Please send any comments to the author by 30 August 2008
If the Scottish government and Scottish local authorities are serious about the idea of community empowerment they need look no further than to assist in strengthening community councils. The existing 1100 plus Scottish community councils provide a sound basis for the further development of democratic local community organisations that provide advice on local public services and community issues and which have the potential to undertake a wider range of functions devolved from local authorities to local communities.
Statutory Basis
Community councils are unique Scottish organisations established by an open public process of nomination and election under local government legislation to ‘ascertain, coordinate and express’ the views of local communities to local authorities and other public agencies whose activities impinge on the well-being of their local communities. They are well placed to be in touch with local communities since they represent, on average, local populations of about 4,500 people and their meetings being regularly attended by local authority members are a way for them to keep in touch with local communities. Community councils have special statutory representational rights with regard to development control, planning issues and licensing matters and they regularly make known local views on numerous local issues such as traffic, bus services, litter, anti-social behaviour and youth services.
In some local authority areas they are emerging as important partners in the community planning process.
Cost-effective
Typically community councils exist on a local authority provided budget of a few hundred pounds per annum. This enables them to perform their essential secretarial and representational business. Additional funding for community councils from the Scottish government and the local authorities would make them much more effective, more able to represent their communities and more capable of undertaking local services. Most importantly since they are largely staffed by volunteers and have minimal local authority staff support they are not costly and an expansion of support for them would provide by far the most cost-effective means of empowering local communities compared to the large sums (in the many millions of pounds) that have historically been provided to promote citizen participation in local communities through Scottish government and local authority programmes.
Democratic
While about one fifth of the Scottish population still does not have a community council they can easily be established by an ‘off the shelf’ kit that is provided by each local authority’s community council scheme upon a petition by at least twenty electors in the relevant area. Local authorities that are serious about community empowerment could actively encourage the establishment of community councils where they do not exist and support them more where they do exist.
Community councils are sometimes criticised for not being democratic in the sense that there are usually only sufficient nominations forthcoming to fill the number of vacancies available on a specific community council, thus obviating the need for an election. However community councils are regularly reconstituted, usually every three or four years, by a process of open public nomination. More contested elections would be welcome and ASCC expects this to be the case as interest in community councils grows but it should not be overlooked that community councils provide a publicly accountable framework across Scotland through which over 13,000 citizens are regularly involved in attempting to improve Scotland’s local communities. With 40% of community councillors being female community councils have a better performance in this regard than local authorities or the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments.
The Best Model of Community Empowerment
There is no comparable set of organisations available across Scotland to promote citizen participation. Tenants’ organisations are based on peoples’ housing circumstances. Residents’ associations do not have the framework of public accountability that governs community councils. Local authority forums are based on the agenda and priorities of the local authorities themselves. As the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament commented community councils are genuinely independent and autonomous local associations of citizens concerned to promote the betterment of their local communities. They exercise their rights as citizens and residents to speak up on behalf of their local communities. They make a significant contribution to local democracy and there is much more that they could do.
The Way Forward
ASCC is working with the Scottish Government to enhance the quality of Scotland’s community councils through the promotion of a National Model Scheme through which community councils and local authorities can promote improvements in their current ways of working. ASCC aims also to work with the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to ensure that the community empowerment agenda to which both those organisations are committed is centrally focused on using community councils as the most democratic, available and cost-effective mechanism of delivering community empowerment.
Norman Bonney
Vice-President
Association of Scottish Community Councils
e-mail; activecitizen@blueyonder.co.uk
2.7.08
www.ascc.org.uk
Draft Policy Statement on Community Councils and Community Empowerment
July 2008
Draft for consultation; Please send any comments to the author by 30 August 2008
If the Scottish government and Scottish local authorities are serious about the idea of community empowerment they need look no further than to assist in strengthening community councils. The existing 1100 plus Scottish community councils provide a sound basis for the further development of democratic local community organisations that provide advice on local public services and community issues and which have the potential to undertake a wider range of functions devolved from local authorities to local communities.
Statutory Basis
Community councils are unique Scottish organisations established by an open public process of nomination and election under local government legislation to ‘ascertain, coordinate and express’ the views of local communities to local authorities and other public agencies whose activities impinge on the well-being of their local communities. They are well placed to be in touch with local communities since they represent, on average, local populations of about 4,500 people and their meetings being regularly attended by local authority members are a way for them to keep in touch with local communities. Community councils have special statutory representational rights with regard to development control, planning issues and licensing matters and they regularly make known local views on numerous local issues such as traffic, bus services, litter, anti-social behaviour and youth services.
In some local authority areas they are emerging as important partners in the community planning process.
Cost-effective
Typically community councils exist on a local authority provided budget of a few hundred pounds per annum. This enables them to perform their essential secretarial and representational business. Additional funding for community councils from the Scottish government and the local authorities would make them much more effective, more able to represent their communities and more capable of undertaking local services. Most importantly since they are largely staffed by volunteers and have minimal local authority staff support they are not costly and an expansion of support for them would provide by far the most cost-effective means of empowering local communities compared to the large sums (in the many millions of pounds) that have historically been provided to promote citizen participation in local communities through Scottish government and local authority programmes.
Democratic
While about one fifth of the Scottish population still does not have a community council they can easily be established by an ‘off the shelf’ kit that is provided by each local authority’s community council scheme upon a petition by at least twenty electors in the relevant area. Local authorities that are serious about community empowerment could actively encourage the establishment of community councils where they do not exist and support them more where they do exist.
Community councils are sometimes criticised for not being democratic in the sense that there are usually only sufficient nominations forthcoming to fill the number of vacancies available on a specific community council, thus obviating the need for an election. However community councils are regularly reconstituted, usually every three or four years, by a process of open public nomination. More contested elections would be welcome and ASCC expects this to be the case as interest in community councils grows but it should not be overlooked that community councils provide a publicly accountable framework across Scotland through which over 13,000 citizens are regularly involved in attempting to improve Scotland’s local communities. With 40% of community councillors being female community councils have a better performance in this regard than local authorities or the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments.
The Best Model of Community Empowerment
There is no comparable set of organisations available across Scotland to promote citizen participation. Tenants’ organisations are based on peoples’ housing circumstances. Residents’ associations do not have the framework of public accountability that governs community councils. Local authority forums are based on the agenda and priorities of the local authorities themselves. As the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament commented community councils are genuinely independent and autonomous local associations of citizens concerned to promote the betterment of their local communities. They exercise their rights as citizens and residents to speak up on behalf of their local communities. They make a significant contribution to local democracy and there is much more that they could do.
The Way Forward
ASCC is working with the Scottish Government to enhance the quality of Scotland’s community councils through the promotion of a National Model Scheme through which community councils and local authorities can promote improvements in their current ways of working. ASCC aims also to work with the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to ensure that the community empowerment agenda to which both those organisations are committed is centrally focused on using community councils as the most democratic, available and cost-effective mechanism of delivering community empowerment.
Norman Bonney
Vice-President
Association of Scottish Community Councils
e-mail; activecitizen@blueyonder.co.uk
2.7.08
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