Community Councils get a mention in the bi-weekly online newsletter for the Scottish Community Alliance (SCA) , a national body which promotes the work of local people in their communities.  SCA campaigns actively at policy level for more effective local democracy.

The Alliance says that the body came into being to provide a ‘gathering point’ where organisations and individuals who support community empowerment can join forces.  The charity praises what it calls the scale and diversity of local activity  and says that it creates the ‘social glue’ that binds a community together and generates the civic pride that people feel for the place they live.  You can read more about the Scottish Community Alliance on the website at http://www.localpeopleleading.co.uk/

In December 2011 the Alliance published an article by Leith community councillor, Jenny MacKenzie and also carried a link to a recent Radio Scotland audio by the same author.  Calling the article Life in Community Councils Yet, the Alliance said:

“In the last Briefing we carried a story suggesting that Scotland’s community councils were in need of radical overhaul. While the national umbrella body seems locked in a dispute with Scottish Government over its funding and has taken the decision to shut up shop rather than work within a reduced budget, there are clearly many more who believe passionately in what they do and are keen to engage in a national debate about the future. ” To read more go to Life in Community Councils yet