Late last Monday afternoon the Scottish Government seemed to surprise everyone with the publication of Public sector reform: Proposal for reform of local governance. Public sector reform had been a feature of the SNP Manifesto but it was explicit that this was to reduce the number of public bodies in line with the pre-existing 2025 Public Sector Reform Strategy. More details were in the Programme for Government 2026-2031 which identified specific mergers of key agencies, and reducing the 14 territorial Health Boards to two Strategic Health Boards.  It also said there would be a three-month dialogue about the future of local governance in Scotland.

We now have a basis for the “dialogue” which will dominate debate in policy circles. The proposal is to transform the existing 32 local authorities into 6-10 regional authorities, and 120-160 community authorities. The number of elected councillors would remain the same, from the existing ward level, with some serving on both layers of governance. The same overall regional administrative or corporate structures would support both regional and community authorities. What are the powers for each level of governance?

Regional Authorities

  • housing, with some functions and responsibility shared with More Homes Scotland
  • strategic planning, alongside a national planning hub
  • employability support, aligned to economic development and skills with the potential for greater national commissioning and/or coordination
  • relevant areas of transport, including Regional Transport Partnerships and potentially some functions currently with Transport Scotland
  • environmental services such as waste and cleansing
  • civil defence, resilience and response, shared with national government
  • provision of regulatory services
  • early learning and education aligning with our 3-18 curriculum, with some elements potentially directed more locally by community authorities

Community Authorities

  • planning, commissioning and delivery of joined up, community-based support that is person-centred and responsive to local need, including Whole Family Support
  • householder planning applications
  • community planning
  • licensing decisions
  • management of the historic environment and open space and greenspace
  • regeneration of local town centres
  • provision and maintenance of local leisure, sport and culture facilities.

The proposal states that this would “improve local decision making” through greater subsidiarity while also delivering efficiency.

Examples of regional authorities are not provided but are for community authorities: ‘burgh/county/town/district/island’ authorities based on identifiable communities such as Kilmarnock, Leith or Blairgowrie and Rattray. There is no reference to the 2 existing national park authorities.

In the absence of details, and perhaps to encourage debate, it could be inferred from the section on Health and Social Care that these are to be undertaken by the two new Strategic Health Boards rather than regional or community authorities.

The 3-month dialogue appears to be set to influence the setting of the Scottish Government Budget in early 2027 and in advance of the 2027 local elections which feels very rushed. This is a proposal to substantively reorganise local authority governance but is it one that improves local democracy? It references Democracy Matters and namechecks community empowerment, community wealth building, asset transfer and participatory budgeting, but provides no detail on how these would be delivered at a scale beyond the usual policy homily.

One of the four key asks in the SURF Manifesto 2026 was to Resource Local Democracy by strengthening and resourcing community councils to fulfil their role as the foundational layer of Scotland’s democracy. There are 1200+ community councils in Scotland all operating on a shoestring of a few hundred pounds a year, with little to no statutory power beyond consultation – it is little wonder we very rarely have competitive elections for community councillors.

Community councils are not mentioned in the proposal document, nor did they have a seat on the Democracy Matters: Steering Group. An oversight or purposeful exclusion? It is community councils who have convened large scale events across Scotland in relation to energy generation and transmission projects, along with the proliferation of data centres. They are perhaps unaddressed at a government’s peril.

Across the summer the Scottish Community Alliance has been working with SURF and other members on a proposal that meaningfully addresses the local democratic deficit. It has required debate and compromise from all parties, but it has focused on a looking from a genuinely local level rather than starting with strategic efficiencies.

The draft proposal is currently being shared first with SCA members, but SURF will be hosting an online discussion on A New Model for Local Democracy, Thursday 22 October 2026, 1000-1200hrs. A date for your diary and booking details to follow.