Ministers have unveiled a radical plan to alter the balance of powers at the local level in Scotland – with the creation of up to 10 new strategic authorities and up to 160 community bodies.

New measures to ‘rewire the state’ have been published by the Scottish Government in what amounts to the biggest potential reorganisation of the political map in over 50 years.

The plans have echoes of a 1975 reorganisation of government in Scotland – whereby nine regional councils and 53 district councils were set up to better deliver local services.

However, the mega-authorities – such as Strathclyde Regional Council, covering half of Scotland’s population – were scrapped in 1996, with criticism over a lack of democratic accountability and confusion over the division of powers.

The new plans, which would replace the existing 32 local councils, in place since the mid-90s, are being put forward by the Scottish Government in a bid to ‘improve the delivery of public services and maximise the efficient use of public spending’.

In a new ‘National renewal through public sector reform – a proposal for reform of local governance’ policy paper, the Scottish Government says: “The Scottish Government believes this approach would represent a fundamental strengthening of governance arrangements and ensure a much stronger approach to regional economic development, place and infrastructure, while reducing backroom duplication and putting more resources into delivering services for local people. “

Initial proposals – which have been shared with COSLA, the umbrella body for local councils in Scotland, and Holyrood committees – include:

  • Replacing current local government arrangements with a smaller number of regional authorities to focus on strategic decision-making alongside a substantial number of community authorities with a focus on local decision-making
  • Separate arrangements for island communities have been suggested in recognition of their particular needs  
  • Councillors sitting on both community authority and the associated regional authority to remove the need for a further layer of elections or additional tiers of bureaucracy
  • Ensuring regional administrative corporate structures support both regional and community authorities

Deputy first minister Jenny Gilruth said: “Reforming Scotland’s public sector is about delivering the best public services for people across Scotland.

“We need to ensure investment is focused on frontline delivery, with the right staff in the right roles to empower communities and deliver real improvements in public services.

“Some decision making is best delivered at national level and regional level while others better sit closer to communities and we must get that balance right. Existing local government responsibilities could also be extended, including enhanced roles in economic development and business support so that individual areas can reflect local strengths and ambitions.

“These proposals are intended to provide a starting point to facilitate debate and discussion as we work to deliver reforms that strengthen public services and improve outcomes for the people and communities we serve.”

Under the proposals, councillors would continue to be elected at the current ward level, sitting on both the community authority and on the associated regional authority. The plan states: “This would improve local decision-making and enable greater strategic working, without the necessity of a further layer of elections or creating additional tiers of bureaucracy.”

And as part of a wider reform programme, the paper describes how functions within existing public bodies could be brought within the regional or local democratic sphere. The Scottish Government doesn’t specify which public bodies might cede their powers to the local level, however.

One of the biggest motivations for the change is housing. It is clear from the plans that ministers believe greater strategic cooperation could deliver more new homes. Recent research from the Fraser of Allander Institute showed that the government risks missing its 110,000 affordable homes target by 2032 by 35,000.

Other parts of the plan appeared to be less well-defined, particularly at the local ‘community level’. For example, one aspect of the plan talks about ‘community-based support that is person-centred and responsive to local need, including Whole Family Support’ without further a detailed explanation of what that might entail. Benefits are still largely administered by the Scottish Government’s Social Security Scotland agency, and by the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions.

On social care, the paper says, with considerable understatement, that ‘the current approach to the integration of social care services is not in all circumstances meeting the needs of people and this key question must be answered in the dialogue around reform.’

The next three months will be used by the Scottish Government to engage with local authorities, trades unions, and healthcare and service providers to reach agreement on reform of social care, with ‘all options’ on the table.

However, there has already been a backlash to the plans. Scottish Conservatives’ local government spokesman Alexander Burnett MSP called it “nothing short of a dog’s dinner,” accusing the SNP of making it up as they go along, and Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Roz Foyer questioned the finances, saying the scale of reform can’t be achieved without substantial upfront investment.

COSLA – which has agreed to enter into dialogue with the Scottish Government over the plan – warned that ‘participation must not be mistaken for agreement to any predetermined structure or transfer of responsibilities’.

COSLA President, Cllr Shona Morrison, said: “Public service reform will only succeed if it is rooted in communities, not organisational charts. Local government will engage with Scottish Government, but we will not support reforms that dilute local democracy, centralise decision-making or remove accountability from the people we serve.

“Decisions around public service reform must be made in agreement between Local Government and the Scottish Government and have the endorsement of councils on any issue affecting them.”