Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland

By the 1960s there was general agreement that the system of local government in Scotland was in need of reform. There were more than four hundred local authorities: 33 county councils (4 of which were paired as "joint county councils" for most purposes), 4 county of city corporations, 197 town councils (administering 21 large burghs and 176 small burghs) and 196 district councils. Following a change of government, William Ross, the Secretary of State for Scotland in the new Labour Party administration, indicated in March 1965 that he did not intend to follow the policy of his predecessor. In February 1966 the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, announced to the Commons that a royal commission would be appointed to review local administration in Scotland. ==Membership of the commission==

The royal commission was appointed in May 1966, and had nine members: • Lord Wheatley, former Solicitor General for Scotland and Lord Advocate, Labour Party member of parliament for Edinburgh East 1947 – 1954. • Betty Harvie Anderson, Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire and a former member of Stirling County Council. • Henry Ballantyne, chairman and managing director of Ballantyne's Knitwear, and a member of the Scottish Economic Planning Council and a former provost of Innerleithen. • Thomas Fraser, Labour MP for Hamilton and former Secretary of State for Transport. • Ames Lyell Imrie, City Chamberlain of Edinburgh. • Russell Johnston Liberal MP for Inverness. • James McBoyle, vice-president of the Royal Institute of Public Administration and former county clerk for Midlothian. • H T MacCalman, Chairman of the Clyde Valley Regional Planning Committee, senior partner in a Glasgow legal firm and an ex-member of Glasgow Corporation • Patrick Connor, regional officer for Scotland for the Amalgamated Engineering Union and member of the Scottish Economic Planning Council. ==Evidence heard==

The Commission heard evidence from a number of interested parties. There was general agreement that there needed to be a reduction in the number of local authorities, and that a new two-tier structure should be formed. Among the bodies that gave evidence were: • The National Association of Local Government Officers suggested a system of five regional councils and 60 local councils. The regions would have responsibility for education and social welfare, with other services provided at the local level. The councils would be empowered to levy a local income tax to finance their activities. There should also be a permanent local government advisory council, with the duty of reviewing the structures and functions of the authorities on an ongoing basis. An ombudsman should also be appointed to address disputes. • The Confederation of British Industry also supported a two-tier structure. • The Council of Scottish Chambers of Commerce envisaged the new upper tier having responsibility for major services such as police, fire services, planning and education. They stressed the importance of maintaining a number of independent police forces in Scotland, rejecting a centralised system as "undesirable and even dangerous". ==The report==

The commission published its report on 25 September 1969. In the report it was recognised that were four levels of community in Scotland: • The region • The district or shire • The locality (of which there were 100 to 150) • The parish (of which there were about 800) Division of functions The majority of the commissioners, as expected, recommended a two-tier structure, split between the regional and district level. However, they also suggested that the locality and parish levels could be given a "voice". This would be done by regional authorities choosing to establish "local committees" and by the creation of non-statutory community councils where there was demand. Community councils might be permitted to operate some local services on an agency basis on behalf of district or regional councils. Regions were to have powers over major planning, social services, housing, police and education; districts over local planning, planning applications, building control, libraries and licensing. ==Reaction and subsequent legislation==

Following the publication of the report there was a twelve-week period in which the existing local authorities could give their response. The report was debated in the House of Commons on 14 October 1969. The Secretary of State stated that following the receipt of the councils' observations the government would produce a white paper with final decisions on structures, boundaries and functions. Local authorities were asked to make their observations on the proposals by 30 April 1971. On 22 December 1971 the Secretary of State, Gordon Campbell, made a parliamentary statement outlining the government's response to the observations received. The main points that had been raised were: • The West Region was too large. • Residents of Fife, which was divided between three regions, wanted it to form a separate region. • The Western Isles comprising Lewis, Harris, the Uists and Barra should be a special area with status similar to Orkney and Shetland. The government accepted the formation of a Western Isles islands area, but rejected the creation of a Fife region. The number of districts on the mainland were to be unchanged, although there were 19 changes to district boundaries, including the transfer of Newport, Tayport and adjacent parishes transferred from Dundee district to North Fife. In addition there were to be six changes to regional boundaries. The number and boundaries of the new authorities were confirmed in a circular, along with suggested names. Among changes to regional names were Forth (South East), Strathclyde (West) Dumfries and Galloway (South West). The Local Government (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Commons on 17 November 1972. During the passage of the Bill through parliament a number of changes were made: • Fife became a separate region. • The Forth region, having lost an area to the new Fife region was renamed Lothian. • Strathclyde was increased in size. • The number of districts in Strathclyde was increased from 13 to 19: 4 were broken off from Glasgow District, while 2 were formed in Ayrshire. • There were a number of boundary changes to districts. The Bill received the royal assent on 25 October 1973, and on 16 May 1975 the system of nine regions, 53 districts and 3 islands areas came into existence. ==References==