Sympathetic rhetoric from an SNP content to preside over the demise of community councils

Vincent Waters from the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) has this morning warned that Scotland's community councils could be 'dead' within 10 years. This comes after a BBC investigation revealed that a fifth of community councils are currently suspended.

The ASCC has requested a larger grant from the Scottish Government to be able to effectively address some of the issues facing community councils, but this was refused. The ASCC announced it will cease its function in April 2012 even though a commitment to community councils was a part of both the 2007 and 2011 SNP manifestos.

Scottish Conservative Local Government Spokeswoman, Margaret Mitchell MSP said:

"It is unacceptable that community councils are being side-lined in this way. The SNP has to match its words with action. It's not enough for the Finance Secretary and the Local Government Minister to merely sound supportive whilst at the same time refusing the funds the national body needs to ensure the ASCC continues to play a fundamental part in community engagement and participation across Scotland.

"The national body, whose main aim is to empower community councils, has made it clear that the funding it requires is to provide the resources necessary to deliver the additional services of training and capacity building whilst at the same time improving the current core service provision.

"The SNP government claims community councils are an integral part of the country's governance structure and yet it cuts local government funding by one billion pounds over the next three years. The stark truth is that whilst there is an abundance of sympathetic rhetoric from the SNP it is content to preside over the demise of community councils.

"In these circumstances the consultation announced, and to take place at a date as yet unspecified, represents an attempt to merely kick the issue into the long grass before next year's local government elections. Instead the SNP needs to act now and make sure the appropriate funding is available to ensure community councils regain their vital position at the heart of our local communities."

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