Community councils must be given more powers if they are to survive, it has been claimed.
Following the struggle to form a 45 regional bodies in Perthshire, calls are being made to have a national debate on the problems being faced by community councils.
A lack of nominations has already seen several groups either fall by the wayside or fail to form at all, including Friarton/Craigie, Letham, Rannoch and Tummel and Central Perth.
Now Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Perth and Kinross Convention of Community Councils, has called for a major rethink on how the bodies are organised and managed.
”We have no control over the social, economic and environmental future of our local communities because all the real decision-making is done by large, remote institutions like Perth and Kinross Council,” he said.
”To me, the obvious solution is to devolve meaningful powers to Scotland’s 1200 community councils. The question is though, what should these powers be?”
Up until 1975, small burgh councils in Scotland had responsibility for a wide range of local issues, including housing, minor roads, street lighting and regulation of the retail trade.
These are powers enjoyed by parish authorities in England, although Mr Gallagher believes that the social wellbeing of residents still lies outwith the local community.
He added: ”If I was going to suggest new powers for Scotland’s community councils, they would also include things such as the provision of home helps, participation in the management of local health centres, support for carers, provision of community centres, monitoring of care homes and the provision of nurseries, mother and toddler groups and meals on wheels.
”Of course there are some aspects of governance and public service provision that can only be managed at county, or even national level but the problem is that, under the present system, there are no proper means for the transmission of democratic governance from the local community up to higher levels.”
One solution he has offered is for all local authority councillors to become a representative in their nearest community council.
”This would be a logical extension of the system that existed until 1975 when a third of the 70 or so members of Perthshire and Kinross-shire County Council were co-opted from the burgh councils,” Mr Gallagher continued.
”I believe the ideas I have suggested could provide a useful starting point for a national debate.”