Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Should Highland Council be broken up? The debate returns after Nicola Sturgeon doesn't rule it out

Gurnites may recall that Councillor Richard Laird got into a spot of bother with his party whip at Highland Council when he suggested that Highland Council be broken up and replaced with smaller councils.

Tonight he said on social media: "Some weeks ago, I drew criticism for suggesting that the Highland Council should be dissolved into smaller local authorities. Now, the First Minister has said that the Scottish Government has not ruled that proposal out. I'm looking forward to seeing how this public debate on local democracy in the Highlands pans out."

Let's be prepared for that debate with the strongest call possible to "Bring back Nairn District Council!"

The First Minister's comments can be heard by following the Soundcloud podcast by BBC Highland below. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nairn District Council destroyed by the Tories at Westminster.
Previously the County of Nairnshire Council had been destroyed by Labour at Westminster.
It would be great if we can all support Richard and Liz and Stephen to encourage Nicola and the SNP to bring local democracy back - to Nairn - and to the rest of the Highlands.
Bring back the shires! Bring back the wee County of Nairnshire!
:-)

Anonymous said...

It will never happen...look what they have done to 'Police Scitland'. Centralised because it's cheaper that way, crime has risen in the big cities because there are no local police.

Deep shade of said...

You'll have to vote Green to get real democracy back, otherwise it's tokenism

Splash said...

Just think how quickly the paddling pool could disappear if the council was run locally

Anonymous said...

The fish interfering again.

Anonymous said...

"The process of centralisation of governance has gone further in Scotland than in other countries. Highland Council, to take the most striking example, covers an area the size of Belgium with a population the size of Belfast. Councillors need to drive hundreds of thousands of miles a year to connect with fellow councillors and citizens in their council area. Despite such herculean efforts, many remote communities feel neglected and disenfranchised."

http://www.scottishleftreview.org/article/size-matters/

Scotland needs more devolution, anyone arguing otherwise - do you think Highland council takes much account of what people in Nairn want for the town? Nairn South anyone? The people who live here and work here should be making decisions about what needs prioritised in Nairn - it is completely normal to have that control if you look past your blinkers at how other countries devolve power to much smaller local authorities. It is possible, we could create local jobs, build better housing and infrastructure - instead of turning into a commuter town for Inverness.

KLM