50 years and counting: the future of community councils in Scotland

Changing arrangements for community empowerment

Community Councils in Scotland were created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973 as the most local statutory tier of local government in Scotland, and intended as a bridge between local communities and local authorities. The legislation which founded community councils remains unaltered today despite major changes in the structure of local government in the intervening years, which has seen the removal of regional and district councils and the creation of 32 unitary local authorities in their place. 

Further change in the context in which community councils operate has followed the progressive implementation of the provisions of the Community Engagement Act 2015 and revisions to the statutory planning system in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. The Community Empowerment Act aims to strengthen the community voice in decisions about public services and make it easier for communities to own and manage community assets of land and buildings.  It makes provision in 11 areas to encourage community empowerment including new processes for community planning through community planning partnership (CPPs) and for community organizations to make participation requests to participate in decision-making about local issues and public services.

The Act also introduces a requirement on local authorities to produce Local Place Plans (LPPs). LPPs are intended to stimulate debate about the future of localities and capitalize on local knowledge and community aspirations as well as needs. LPPs sit alongside local authority Local Development Plans.

The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 determines the structure of a modernized planning system for Scotland to manage land use development in the long-term public interest and outcomes from the Community Empowerment Act. The Scottish Government sees this legislation as being central to strengthening the planning system’s contribution to the development of inclusive growth, to delivering housing and infrastructure and to the empowerment of communities.  The provisions of the Act include the preparation of national and local development plans (LDPs), and the opportunity for increased community involvement in the planning process.

Taken together these provisions define a new range of processes for the determination of land use at national, regional and local levels and for community participation and management of community assets. They emphasize the key concept of place-based planning and stress the importance of community engagement and empowerment which go significantly beyond previous consultation procedures.

Against this background, in May 2023 the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee of the Scottish Parliament devoted a meeting to both celebrate the 50 years milestone for community councils and hear from community councils about the difference they make in their communities, the key issues they face and the opportunities there might be for their future development.  This has been followed up in recent days by the release by the Scottish Government of a new set of guidance including a model scheme for the establishment of community councils and good practice in their operation. 

There is now a timely debate about the role of community councils, their performance and their appropriateness as a mechanism for communities to engage with and be represented in local authority planning and decision-making and where they sit within the new arrangements for community empowerment as envisaged in recent legislation.

What are Community Councils?

There is a requirement on each local authority to establish a community council scheme and appoint an official to liaise with the councils. Most authorities provide a small grant to each community council to cover administrative expenses.

There are an estimated 1,200 active community councils in Scotland. Community Councilors are independent volunteers (not representatives of political parties), and are elected by their communities. Community councils must be consulted by local authorities on planning applications, certain licence applications, and on changes to the use of ‘common good’ property and assets. Frequently community councils are involved in a range of local community activities, and some are partners in the community planning partnerships of key service providers required in each authority by the Community Empowerment Act. Some have actively promoted schemes for innovations in such projects as participative budgeting.

The performance of community councils is very varied both within and between local authorities. Some are actively delivering a community perspective on local issues to public authorities, but despite their potential to be a key component of community empowerment and local democracy, many struggle to attract members (frequently elections are uncontested), or to maintain local engagement, leading some authorities to question their effectiveness and prioritize other routes for community involvement.  

Revise or rebuild?

The two broad options for the future effectiveness of community councils seem to be to either improve the current model or to build a different approach to local community engagement. In discussing issues faced by community councils, council members cite a number of concerns relating to such matters as:

·         The level of support received from the local authority within which they sit;

·         How to demonstrate their value to local communities that elect them;

·         How to be seen as positive and constructive rather than critical and unhelpful to under-pressure local authorities;

·         How to relate to locally elected local authority members for their locality;

·         How to relate to the new arrangements for community empowerment flowing from the Community Empowerment legislation.

Conditions for engagement

These concerns might usefully be considered in relation to research into community engagement processes elsewhere which consistently highlights factors which need to be in place if effective community input to statutory authorities is to be sustained. Fundamentally there has to be a recognition that engagement is essentially a two-way process. This requires conditions to be in place which promote and require exchange between the parties. Community groups must have the capacity for effective engagement whilst statutory authorities must have incentives to respond.  

 Community representative groups need specific functions and resources for them to deploy and operate in a way which sustains participation of volunteer members The continuing commitment of community members depends on their being able to enjoy purposeful engagement, and to recognize their own role in promoting positive change in the community to increase members’ confidence. Whilst community volunteers will bring many diverse skills to their task, they may well need training opportunities and support for effective partnership working.

A clear role and resources to deploy which make a visible difference in their communities is vital if groups are to demonstrate their value, encourage participation and community support. Achieving standing within their community legitimizes them as participants in exchanges with statutory bodies.

Statutory bodies in turn need greater incentives to engage with and respond to outcomes from processes of community engagement and empowerment beyond a basic legal obligation to take them into account. The incentives need to be coupled with sufficiently powerful sanctions if they do not do so in a meaningful fashion. Such responses need to go beyond the bureaucratic process of consultation about proposals authorities have brought forward to embrace deeper engagement and co-working with communities which recognizes and acknowledges community input. Whilst there may be tensions between statutory authorities’ wider priorities and local place-based community concerns, adequate mechanisms are needed to manage these issues.

Future arrangements

There are lessons here for those looking at the future of Scottish Community Councils. It is clear from the paragraphs above that community council members are identifying shortcomings in their present position in relation to these conditions. Given the new context in which they are operating, future developments might lean more to re-building than to revising current arrangements.  Scottish cities are adopting their own varied approaches to the implementation of the requirements of the Community Empowerment legislation with differing interpretations of the role of their community councils along with other representative bodies within their areas. Some foresee a clear role for community councils as mechanisms for community empowerment whilst in others they are left in a rather marginal position, with mere token inclusion in new engagement structures. There is scope for some careful scrutiny how these various arrangements unfold.