THE DECLARation

Building a New Local Democracy in Scotland

We the undersigned enthusiastically support the purpose and legitimacy of the Scottish Parliament, and commend the many successes of devolved government during its first 25 years. 

We believe that Scotland now needs to fulfil the promise that devolution would also bring a return to genuine local democracy.

We note that the average Scottish ‘local’ council has 170k citizens. The EU average is 10k. Community Councils have £400 pa and no statutory powers. Scotland has no truly local democracy. 

We therefore call for the creation of powerful City, town, island and local councils across Scotland – not further centralisation, nor the top-down imposition of elected mayors.

We call for citizens’ assemblies, to gather local and international evidence about Scotland’s local democratic deficit, and to recommend a process to return Scotland to international democratic norms.