Building A Local Scotland

Scotland has practically the largest units of local government in the world. An average Scottish council has 175,000 people compared to an average across the EU of 10,000. There seems to be widespread consensus that something needs to be done about the over-centralisation of Scotland, but little agreement about what that should be.

A group of individuals from a range of backgrounds - activists, academics, trade unionists and more - have set themselves the task of raising the profile of this democratic deficit and engaging the public and politicians in a discussion about how to address it.

Indypodcasters have been presenting a series of podcasts on the topic of the kind of national conversation Scots are having and this seemed a perfect fit for that series so we went along to the launch event which was held in Edinburgh on 9th September 2024.

This is our recording of the public launch event. You can find out more from the website www.buildlocal.scot

You can also sign the declaration calling for citizens' assemblies to gather evidence and recommend solutions here https://buildlocal.scot/sign-the-declaration/

Panel presentations were:

00:01:11 Introduction by Joyce McMillan, Scotsman columnist and theatre critic

00:04:17 Esther Roberton, former co-ordinator of the Scottish Constitutional Convention

00:08:00 Dave Watson, Director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation

00:14:16 Willie Sullivan, Senior director for campaigns Electoral Reform Society

00:20:42 Ewan Aitken, Former Labour Councillor and COSLA spokesperson

00:28:36 Lesley Riddoch, Director of Nordic Horizons, filmmaker and award winning journalist

00:37:23 Q and A

00:07:39 Next steps

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