Democracy Matters 2 consultation concludes
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 28th February 2024.
Democracy Matters 2 consultation concludes
The second phase of Scottish Government and COSLA’s Democracy Matters consultation closes today, following an opportunity for communities to share their ideas about what decision-making powers could look like, and how potential new decision-making bodies might work.
We’ve been working with DTAS, SCA, and Scottish Government on a series of engagement events, and it’s been encouraging, but not surprising, to see such a wide range of useful ideas from our participants.
What’s clear is that communities have a real appetite to take on further decision-making through new structures. We’ve also heard some important questions about how transformative new powers may be, how community activity could be resourced, and how we make sure existing inequalities don’t get worse.
We’ve been encouraging communities to have their say, and are currently preparing to publish our own response. We’re bringing togethers ideas around: how we can develop empowerment infrastructure; increase influence and inclusion; and how community-led innovation can support interventions on issues of local importance.
Now that the consultation has closed, we’ll be watching to see how all this thoughtful discussion can be translated into action. As Tom Arthur, Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance, said at a recent Glasgow Disability Alliance event: “Democracy Matters is really difficult, really challenging, but the rewards could be huge.”
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