For years it has been argued that democracy in Britain is in crisis; participation rates in elections are falling, mistrust of politicians is rising and the public seems less connected with the political process than ever before.
This argument applies to local government in Scotland as much as to any other layer of government in Britain and partly explains why CoSLA (the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) took the lead in setting up the independent Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy at the end of 2013.
The Commission’s purpose is to identify how a shift in power to local democracy in Scotland can be achieved, regardless of the result of September’s independence referendum, including how the current arrangements for delivering local services can be ‘strengthened and enriched to benefit local people most.’
Making local democracy more accountable and beneficial to citizens will not be easy. A recent survey Ipsos/MORI conducted to inform the work of Commission clearly highlights the scale of the challenges ahead.
Making local democracy more accountable and beneficial to citizens will not be easy
Many people also see local government as too remote and increasingly irrelevant; the majority of us (60%) believe that decisions about public services are taken too far away from where we live and more than half of us (54%) think that central government controls more decisions about local decisions than it did in the past, both of which we view negatively.
But while the challenge of reimagining local democracy may be considerable there are some reasons for the Commission to feel optimistic. There are signs from the survey that, not only does the public support change to the current arrangements, many would like to have some involvement in improving the quality of life in their community.
There are signs from the survey that, not only does the public support change to the current arrangements, many would like to have some involvement in improving the quality of life in their community.
What should we make of these findings and what should the Commission do next? While it is encouraging to see such enthusiasm for citizens to be engaged in improving their communities, the reality of getting people out to a community centre on a wet Tuesday night in February may be more difficult. To counter this participation should be encouraged by making it easy and accessible, offering different methods of engagement to suit the needs of different people, and by giving people a clear understanding of what is expected of them and what positive impact they could potentially have. It will also be important to ensure that new forums established for local people to influence decision-making are not dominated by an unrepresentative group who pursue narrow agendas.
For the Commission to make the most of these initial findings and explore how these encouraging signs could become reality, more in-depth qualitative research would be helpful. This would help in understanding how citizens would most like to participate, explore barriers to participation in greater detail and tease out what power citizens expect to have in order to ensure that their views are heard and acted upon.
Mark Diffley is a Director, Ipsos MORI Scotland
By Mark Diffley, Director, Ipsos MORI Scotland
OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE
- Editorial
- Children - Putting Policy Into Practice
- Worth more than the First Minister? Senior Salaries in Scottish Quangos
- Success secrets shared: Learning from the best Mittelstand and British global niche champions
- Remembering John Muir
- Internship Can be Good For You
- Planning for Human Rights in Scotland
- Power to the People?
- Evidence exchange: sharing social policy lessons between neighbours
- Helping to build stronger communities across Scotland
- How Can We Engage The Disengaged?
- Pay as you Go?
Issue 8: January 2014
SMART CITIES: SMART SERVICES: SMART WORKING
Smart Cities: Smart Services: Smart Working Editorial
In focusing on 'Smart Cities' let's start with a few teaser questions (answers at the foot of this column)...
- Connecting the Unconnected
- Smarter cities, greener cities cost less to run
- The Future of Mobility - Economic and Transport Opportunity
- Will 2014 be the year that cities become even smarter?
- Geographic Information for Smart Working
- Smart Accelerator: Accelerating action to create smarter cities and regions
- Public Service Reform in an Enabling State: It's about people - not just curly cables
- Data's the way to do it as Glasgow fast forwards to the future
- Time To Start Powering Public Services?
- A 'Smart' Move for Scotland? Edinburgh Napier University's role in the EU Smart Cities Project
- Transport for Edinburgh - Integrated Transport for a Smart City
- "Smart" Opportunities for Scotland's Cities
- Co-ordinating Investment to Deliver 'Smart Places'
- Delivering a sustainable rail future
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