tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207054455698263599.post6803673578569512745..comments2023-08-20T09:39:40.462+01:00Comments on The Centre for Scottish Public Policy: Tram network just needs a driverCSPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16513852098836995322noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207054455698263599.post-8237824998885606602011-09-06T10:09:21.773+01:002011-09-06T10:09:21.773+01:00Entirely agree with your comments. Critics of the ...Entirely agree with your comments. Critics of the mayoral system often point to the concentration of executive power and the lack of checks and balances. Certainly, these issues occupied my thoughts for a while.<br /><br />But, can't Scotland learn from the experiences down south (in particular) and create a system that empowers a central figure but simultaneously provides accountability and transparency? Of course it can.<br /><br />BarryCSPPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16513852098836995322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207054455698263599.post-74912563754190295442011-09-05T19:44:56.068+01:002011-09-05T19:44:56.068+01:00I have been a staunch defender of local government...I have been a staunch defender of local government for as long as I can remember. However, the world is changing dramatically without our democratic system keeping apace. A representative system intended to ensure democratic accountability is still essential and non negotiable but what form that should take now has to be up for debate. An elected Provost with a cabinet of people dedicated to public service held to account by elected Councillors whose role is to challenge and scrutinise must be preferable to the stagnating, bureaucratic, committee driven,cabal led Local Authority system currently in place. It is also essential that a replacement representative system involving an elected Provost has a recall mechanism if the majority of the local electorate require to trigger it.The Edinburgh tram fiasco would be a case in question.Along with political reform there also has to be a Community Empowerment Act and an end to the vast waste of duplication arising from quangos such as regeneration agencies, enterprise bodies and local planning partnerships.Their unelected un accountable empires could be dispensed with .The Provost and cabinet system would be expected to carry out their functions .The savings to the public purse could be re invested in local initiatives rather than poured down the great black hole of discredited policies and practices which promise much but deliver little . We are not a poor country we just manage our resources poorly .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com