Background

The UK`s elected local councillors answer to an average constituency of 2,600 voters. The equivalent constituency is 667 in Sweden, 250 in Germany and 116 in France. Local election turnout is 80% in Sweden and 70% in Germany; in the UK it runs around at 33%. All our political parties now agree that the excessive centralization of state power has damaged local democracy in Britain and that something must be done to pass power back down to people and communities.

In England government ministers have signaled their intention to introduce radical approaches to give local communities new powers and responsibilities for what happens at a neighbourhood level. Time will tell whether their intent is serious. In Scotland, the 2007 Holyrood elections brought to an end an era the Labour dominated politics which which was centralist in outlook and which appeared to place little value on local democracy and community empowerment.

Scotland's Regeneration Policy "People and Place" emphasizes physical rather than social regeneration and the roles of the public and private sectors rather than communities. Audit Scotland's review of Community Planning Partnerships found that they are failing to engage effectively with communities and that half of them don't even have local representation. The review of the Government's Community Voices programme found it limited both in reach and effectiveness. The Community Sector in Scotland lacks overall co-ordination and is without a collective voice. As a result, it has been marginalized from mainstream policy development.

Despite the lack of support from central and local government, pockets of citizens across Scotland continue to organise at a local level to improve their communities. But their efforts are not sufficiently joined up and are routinely discouraged and resisted by local councils. There are signs that the new SNP administration will be more supportive of communities but as yet no politician or organisation has emerged to champion the themes of the new community agenda. Scotland needs a 'gathering point' where organisations and individuals who support community empowerment can join forces to campaign for change.