50 years since Local Democracy Died
Local Government: Administration of a town or other comparatively small district by elected representatives of the people who live there, as distinguished from central government; the governing body responsible for this: Oxford English Dictionary
Fifty years ago, at midnight tonight, Scotland’s last remaining system of local government was abolished by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
One hundred and ninety eight Town Councils, many of which had been in existence since the 13th and 14th century, ceased to exist. Many of Scotland’s civic traditions died with them.
In the longer term, Scotland’s towns declined in status, wealth and prosperity.
I grew up in Kinross. Pictured above is the former Town Hall. As a young child I remember listening to Aly Bain and Tom Anderson paying their fiddles together in the Kinross Folk Festival. We had two councils in the town – the Town Council and also the County Council. It was a thriving place. The picture above was taken around 2010 as the Town Hall lay derelict and riddled with dry rot. the Carnegie Library to the left was shut some years before were the Town Council building to the right. This centre of civic life was abandoned and is now private flats. The original Town Council Offices and Town Hall are pictured below.
It is no surprise that when the former Scotsman correspondent of the Scotsman wrote a Guest Blog [link] for me on the common good funds of the Scottish Borders, he made an astonishing discovery.
Of the nine Royal Burghs in the Scottish Borders, one of them has more assets than all of the rest put together. It has more land, and it still has its Town Council (here is the agenda and papers for the next meeting on 19th May 2025).
That Burgh is Berwick which became permanently part of England in 1482. Its transfer to England was what enabled it to grow its wealth and maintain its local democracy.
Scotland has the weakest system of local government anywhere in Europe.
| Country | No. Municipalities | Median population | Area (Sq km) |
| France | 36,781 | 380 | 11 |
| Germany | 12,013 | 6844 | 15 |
| Spain | 8112 | 564 | 35 |
| Italy | 8100 | 2343 | 22 |
| Belgium | 589 | 11,265 | 40 |
| Norway | 431 | 4439 | 465 |
| Sweden | 290 | 15,039 | 672 |
| Scotland | 32 | 115,000 | 990 |
There is virtually no interest in doing anything about this despite all the talking shops set up by the Scottish Government to “empower local communities” and a Local Governance Review that has been a focus for much more talk and no action for many years.
I suspect that this blog is the only publication today anywhere in Scotland acknowledging this significant anniversary. If you see others, please note them in the comments.
Half a century after local democracy was eradicated and twenty-five years since the Scottish Parliament was established, we care little about the local state and about genuine local democracy.
This is a truly both a shocking and a sorry state of affairs.
Listed below are all the places that lost their autonomy, collective voice and ability to govern their own affairs. You probably live in one of them. One day, you might get your voice back.
Aberchirder
Aberdeen
Aberfeldy
Aberlour
Abernethy
Airdrie
Airth
Alloa
Alva
Alyth
Annan
Arbroath
Ardrossan
Armadale
Auchterarder
Auchtermuchty
Ayr
Ballater
Banchory
Banff
Barrhead
Bathgate
Bearsden
Bellshill
Bervie
Biggar
Bishopbriggs
Blairgowrie and Rattray
Blanytre
Bo’ness
Bonnyrigg
Brechin
Bridge of Allan
Buckie, Burghead
Burntisland
Callander
Campbeltown
Carluke
Carnoustie
Castle Douglas
Clackmannan
Clydebank
Coatbridge
Cockenzie and Port Seton
Coldstream
Coupar Angus
Cowdenbeath
Crail
Crieff
Cromarty
Cullen
Culross
Cumbernauld
Cumnock
Cupar
Dalbeattie
Dalkeith
Denny
Stirlingshire
Dingwall
Dornoch
Doune
Dufftown
Dumbarton
Dumfries
Dunbar
Dunblane
Dundee
Dunfermline
Dunoon
Duns
Earlsferry
East Kilbride
East Linton
Edinburgh
Elgin
Eyemouth
Falkirk
Falkland
Findochty
Forfar
Forres
Fortrose
Fort William
Fraserburgh
Galashiels
Galston
Girvan
Glasgow
Gourock
Grangemouth
Grantown-on-Spey
Greenock
Haddington
Hamilton
Hawick
Helensburgh
Huntly
Innerleithen
Inveraray
Inverbervie
Inverkeithing
Inverness
Inverurie
Irvine
Jedburgh
Johnstone
Keith
Kelso
Kilbarchan
Kilcreggan
Kilmarnock
Kilrenny
Kilsyth
Kilwinning
Kinghorn
Kingussie
Kinross
Kintore
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcudbright
Kirkintilloch
Kirkwall
Kirriemuir
Ladybank
Lanark
Langholm
Largs
Lauder
Laurencekirk
Lerwick
Leslie
Leven
Linlithgow
Loanhead
Lochgelly
Lochgilphead
Lochmaben
Lockerbie
Lossiemouth
Macduff
Markinch
Maybole
Melrose
Methil
Millport
Milngavie
Moffat
Monifieth
Montrose
Motherwell
Musselburgh
Nairn
Newburgh
New Galloway
Newmilns
Newport on Tay
Newton Stewart
North Berwick
Oban
Oldmeldrum
Paisley
Partick
Peebles
Penicuik
Perth
Peterhead
Pittenweem
Pitlochry
Port Glasgow
Portknockie
Portsoy
Prestwick
Renfrew
Rosehearty
Rothes
Rothesay
Rutherglen
St Andrews
St Monans
Saltcoats
Sanquhar
Selkirk
Stevenston
Stewarton
Stirling
Stonehaven
Stornoway
Stranraer
Stromness
Tain
Tayport
Thurso
Tillicoultry
Tobermory
Tranent
Troon
Turriff
Whitburn
Whithorn
Wick
Wigtown
Wishaw
You left out Broughty Ferry. The former town hall is now the library.
it was incorproated into Dundee in 1913 I think and thus was not abolished by the 1973 Act. Similarly Portobello, Rutherglen, Govan etc.
It defies belief that the Highland Council can be considered a ‘local’ democracy in anyone’s terms. Covering 6 (I think?) former administrative Counties and with an area nearly the size of Belgium (which has 40 administrative areas – see Table above). Thanks for commemorating this unfortunate historic day! – I haven’t seen any mention of it elsewhere…
I think UK Local Government “Reform” terminally severed the connection between people and their governance, between people and that experience of democratic participation – probably the single most damaging, self-inflicted injury that the UK committed upon itself in the whole of the 20th Century.
Your name Andy was mentioned in the comments section of ‘the National ‘yesterday. There was a general discussion re Land Reform in Scotland with the Scottish government taking a lot of flak for their inaction and one of those comments was ..,’Ask Andy Wightman’. I think you should expose all that you have discovered especially as Independence is ignored by the SNP whose leader is a champion gobbledegooker… saying lots but signifying nothing.
All that I have read is new to me as it will be to the people of Scotland. Our culture has been dismantled over the years and now the foreign english are moving in like some kind of infection while the Scots sit like mushrooms. ( in the dark and fed sh*t)
I really believe that all this information should be out in the media…. we only have one that is honest and not english centric and yesterday I noticed the National was totally sold out in Tesco. Today someone had put the National on top of the foreign english media….if your information got out there to the general Scottish public who knows what the reaction by the Scots would be. Thank you for all your excellent work for Scotland. We need someone to shine a torch in dark corners to find those creatures intent on dismantling our culture , our beliefs….. indeed our very soul. UDI the only answer.
My local area is now the Isle of Barra. Before the 70’s, we came under Invernessshire, and children had to board at Inverness schools for secondary education. How ridiculous was that? When we became the Western Isles Council, children still had to board, but in Stornoway. Eventually we got our own secondary school.
Stornoway feels more remote than Glasgow to us; it takes 2 ferries and over 5 hours driving to get there, while we can fly to Glasgow in less than an hour. We also feel forgotten by the Council based in Stornoway. Recent news that our roads were to be resurfaced was met with a mixture of delight and disbelief, so used are we to be out of sight and out of mind.
So we’d be delighted to see genuinely local government, even though, along with our sister island Vatersay, we number just 1,200.
Well said. I remember when my then employer, Highland Region, was converted single tier authority and became Inverness ‘City’ Council plus hinterland. Ross and Cromarty District was a real loss. And that was the second reorganisation, in 1996. The burgh and rural district councils went before my time. They had faults but they did have civic pride and mostly Common Good Funds too, built up over many years. In the Highlands these have disappeared into a centralised pot.
But it is actually much worse than this. Recent experience has shown me that there is now no democracy or indeed rule of law in Scotland. As far as I can see all authorities in Scotland, at all levels, including the Scottish Government, Ombudsman, ;Local’ authorities, community councils, police, legal profession and courts, cannot be held to account at all. The poor (i.e. people like me) still have no lawyers. Any concerns raised, even about frankly criminal behaviour are ignored – or worse, turned into outright abuse. I though this was just corruption by the exclusive clubs of international billionaires represented by the World Economic Forum, Bidlerberg group, Atlantic Council etc. who can apparently buy anything and anyone they please, including governments, universities, the press and media. But even this is not the whole story.
I as curious when a public meeting here in early 2020 concerning issues of over-tourism was chaired by the Lord Lieutenant. At this there was no real consultation, just manufactured ‘consent’. Last year the Lord Lieutenant came to visit community councils and offer them the KIng’s support on a non party political basis. But in our case the community council is a notorious bunch of bullies who claim an exclusive right to decide everything and everyone takes their instructions. Including Highland Councillors and officials, the Ombudsman, the police and Inverness Sheriff court. None of them can be held to account at all. The police tell me that NC500’s customers too are apparently ‘entitled’ to do as they please wherever and whenever they please. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code is apparently ‘advisory only’ and not a police matter, and even the 20 mph speed limit is not enforced ‘anywhere in the Highlands’.
For raising concerns and objections to the destruction of the village centre where I live, and the deliberate managed decline and depopulation of the rural highlands, I have experienced – to quote Gandhi – first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you – and then you win. (Hope so)
So where does this extraordinary entitlement and impunity come from? I have only recently discovered the extent of Crown Immunity in Scotland. The king is not only above the law himself, but he seems to be able to confer it on others too. See for example
https://www.scottishlegal.com/articles/prison-chiefs-calls-for-end-to-crown-immunity
Never kid yourself that Charles III sees himself as a mild, irrelevant, quaint tourist attraction. He is a king born and bred, and like his ancestors sees himself as ruling by divine right rather than consent. All public servants are required to swear an oath of allegiance to him. We live in an absolute monarchy, and after the royal family were shaken up by the 2014 referendum result, they clearly weren’t going to let it happen again. The king is head of state. He meets the Prime Minister regularly and pre-approves every law passed and every policy. All our politicians and civil servants do as they are told, or face the prospect of unpleasant personal consequences. This is how the British state has always operated. That is why the Scottish Government is too feart to stand up for us.
But returning to ‘local’ government: Community Councils in the north at least still suffer from that old curse of the highlands, the equivalent of the extended mafia family who all vote for each other and then insist to local government that only they can speak for their community. So-called ‘local authorities, apart from being far too big to have any meaning at all, – my Ward, Highland Council’s Ward 5 (like our parliamentary constituencies) is a huge area with massive problems where delivering services is just too ‘expensive’ for urban based.urban thinking people who regard Wester Ross as a wild place to escape to (nothing new there). No-one could really represent this vast area. We have a multi-member ward where councillors with no local connection are voted in on party tickets that have little to do with local issues. They divide the ward up between them. ‘We’ have one independent councillor who represents Kyle of Lochalsh over 70 miles away from here; she is the only one who we had heard of before the last election; we have two SNP councillors who have been ‘allocated’ by their colleagues to us but neither of whom have any apparent connection with or much interest in this area (one has betrayed me so badly I could never vote SNP again) and one, elected as a Tory but who has since defected to the LibDems, who no-one never sees at all, Some replacement for the vibrant if imperfect small councils that once existed. At Holyrood level too we have the ‘List’ MSPs, who again are elected to represent parties rather than local people and supposedly ‘represent’ such a huge area its meaningless. The loudest, most vociferous interests drown the rest of us out.
Lesley Riddoch points us to Scandinavia. The Hebrides and the Wester Ross coast were part of the kingdom of Norway until the 13th c, and the Northern Isles until 15th. We would do better to return to that.
Anyway, rant over but I did want to draw attention to the extraordinary power the British Crown still clearly has. When I lift the carpet to see what’s been swept under it, I see an absolute monarchy still there. Crown Immunity is incompatible with democracy and the rule of law. Historically, regardless of the Supreme Court ruling, the pwople have been sovereign in Scotland and the king rules by consent, not divine right. Charles swore to uphold the Claim of Right. Time to hold him to it.