Writings

Writings

The Scottish Government must stop rearranging the deckchairs and give power back to local communities – Lesley Riddoch
Bybuildlocalscot September 7, 2026September 7, 2026

Building a Local Scotland has called on the Scottish Government to halt further top-down restructuring of public services and use its proposed local government reforms to begin reversing decades of centralisation. The campaign group says the Scottish Government has an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how Scotland is governed, rather than further centralising existing structures. Building a…

Read More The Scottish Government must stop rearranging the deckchairs and give power back to local communities – Lesley Riddoch
Writings

Why decentralisation must go beyond ‘Manchesterism’ – Building a Local Scotland
Bybuildlocalscot July 1, 2026July 1, 2026

Cross-party group calls for Citizens’ Assembly to design a genuinely decentralised Scotland. Building a Local Scotland (BLS) has welcomed Andy Burnham’s commitment to “the biggest rebalancing of power ever seen” but says Scotland must go further than the English model of mayoral city regions if communities are to be genuinely re-empowered. In a speech today (Monday),…

Read More Why decentralisation must go beyond ‘Manchesterism’ – Building a Local Scotland
Writings

Why Build a Local Scotland? – Esther Roberton
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament and we have seen many events marking the milestone. There continues to be much discussion looking back on what has been achieved and looking forward to what could or should be done over the next 25 years. As Coordinator of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, I…

Read More Why Build a Local Scotland? – Esther Roberton
Writings

We can ‘right-size’ democracy in Scotland – Lesley Riddoch
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

Something special happened in 2022. A Scottish election with the lowest ever number of candidates, a turnout of just 44.8%, the lowest in northern Europe and a high number of wards where there was no election because candidate numbers precisely matched the available seats. But there was very little fuss or recrimination because these were…

Read More We can ‘right-size’ democracy in Scotland – Lesley Riddoch
Writings

Why Rural Scotland needs a new solution – Ann McGuinness
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

Steeped in history and surrounded by natural beauty, our rural communities are often fawned over and fantasised about by inhabitants of our towns and cities, where the promise of an idyllic holiday, or perhaps even retirement, awaits. Yet these are places filled with people carrying on with their everyday lives. Living, working and learning in…

Read More Why Rural Scotland needs a new solution – Ann McGuinness
Writings

Why I support the New Local Democracy for Scotland – Dave Watson
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

Twenty-five years after the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, we rightly celebrate devolution. In the words of Donald Dewar this was, ‘the day when democracy was renewed in Scotland when we revitalised our place in this our United Kingdom.’ While the Scottish Parliament has brought democracy closer to Scotland, it has not created a genuine…

Read More Why I support the New Local Democracy for Scotland – Dave Watson
Writings

Community and Resilience: The Keys to Powerful Local Government – Willie Sullivan
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

There are many reasons to seek really powerful, really participative local government in Scotland. Electoral Reform Society, Scotland published a longer pamphlet about this in 2022. Here we focus on what could well be the two most important reasons ; Community and Resilience. Ours is a system that combines single, symmetrical units that seeks to…

Read More Community and Resilience: The Keys to Powerful Local Government – Willie Sullivan
Writings

Building a Local Scotland: an economist’s view – Mike Danson
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

There is an incorrect presumption embedded into many government frameworks that, by definition, ‘big is beautiful’. The argument is then that that governments at all levels should embrace the need to realise the economies of scale offered by being parts of bigger entities. Best value regimes, public procurement rules, the Green Book (which the UK…

Read More Building a Local Scotland: an economist’s view – Mike Danson
Writings

Devolution past the doors of Holyrood – Ewan Aitken
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

As a former Labour Councillor, I spent many hours persuading people not just that voting was a good thing but why voting for me was an even better thing. I was stopped in my tracks one inclement election day however, when I thanked an older woman for coming out on such a day to cast…

Read More Devolution past the doors of Holyrood – Ewan Aitken
Writings

Even when it’s a Grand Challenge the solution is often local – Peter McColl
Bybuildlocalscot September 9, 2024September 6, 2024

There are a small number of great challenges facing us as a society. The climate emergency is the most significant, but we have a social care crisis that also threatens our wellbeing and that of our loved ones. Too often the scale of the challenge creates a false assumption that the answers lie in changes…

Read More Even when it’s a Grand Challenge the solution is often local – Peter McColl