THE Scottish National Party has told the Government that it could
support single-tier local authorities, but only if they were working
alongside an independent Scottish government and were elected by
proportional representation.
Current Tory moves towards the creation of unitary authorities, claims
the SNP, would weaken the democratic effectiveness of local government
and could seriously threaten the quality of services provided.
The party's vice-convener of local government, Mr George Leslie, said
in Glasgow yesterday that the Government's proposed restructuring was
not for the benefit of the Scottish people, but for the benefit of a
Tory Party which had failed to take control of local government through
the ballot box and now intended to hamstring it instead.
Mr Leslie, who was launching the SNP's response to the Government's
consultation document on reorganisation, said the structure of local
government should be monitored by an independent boundaries commission.
This would examine all proposals for local government boundary
changes, and seek to ensure that any change of structure or size had the
approval of the communities affected -- by the use of local ballots if
necessary.
The SNP rejects the Government's approach to council reform, but it
does put forward some comments on the question of joint arrangements
under a one-tier system.
The response says the party does not consider that the widespread use
of joint arrangements would be necessary in a properly organised system
of unitary councils. The decision as to whether joint arrangements were
necessary in a particular service area should only be taken by councils
themselves.
''We do not believe,'' says the response, ''that prejudiced opposition
to joint arrangements should be used as a basis for advocating the
establishment of unnecessarily large single-tier units.''
Councillor Kathleen McAlorum, secretary of the SNP group on Motherwell
District Council, said the party did not intend to get involved in
discussions on local boundaries, as this was a matter for local
communities. It was more important to challenge the Government on the
fundamental dangers of its reforms: the loss of democratic effectiveness
and control of vital services, and the unnecessary cost.
The SNP's response claims that the cost of the proposed reorganisation
would be unacceptably high at a time of recession and cutbacks. ''If the
Government can find money for this inadequately thought out
reorganisation of local government, then we believe all this money from
Scottish taxpayers would be better spent on improving the quality of
many of our local services,'' it states.
It also calls on the Government to extend its consultation to include
all aspects of Scotland's government, both central and local, and the
relationship of each tier of that government to the European Community.
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