Pat Watters

Senior council leaders from Scotland and Wales have expressed concern at the impact of devolved politics on local democracy.

Councillor Pat Watters, president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), warned that plans pushed through the Holyrood parliament to introduce proportional representation in council elections could mark a "backward step in democracy".

And councillor Alex Aldridge, Welsh Local Government Association chairman, said that the people of Wales are now "burdened with too much government".

Their comments came in separate interviews with this website to mark the launch of ePolitixLocal.

Watters said that the devolution of power to Edinburgh had given councils much better access to ministers, as well as a pledge from the executive to match new responsibilities with extra cash.

He added that there was now "a much more co-operative approach with the executive".

But Watters hit out at the decision to introduce PR in local elections, with was adopted as part of the coalition agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

He said there were some differing views within COSLA, but added that the change would make it "extremely confusing" for voters.

"We have got two different systems for voting for the Scottish parliament, we have a different system again for voting for the European parliament, a different system again for voting for the national government, and we are going to bring in another different system for voting for local councillors," he said.

"I believe that will be confusing for the electorate, and it will damage democracy as a result of that."

The COSLA president also told ePolitix.com that "part of the problem in Scotland is that there is a long tradition of independent councillors" which could lose out in the switch to a more party-based system.

Over-burdened

The concerns of Scottish councils were echoed by the Welsh local government chief.

Aldridge told ePolitix.com that the Cardiff assembly is "still to resonate with the public at large".

"The people of Wales are burdened with too much government, there are too many of us practicing - with the best intent - politics, on the day to day lives of the people," he said.

"As an illustration I always say if Mrs Jones at the sheltered accommodation phones up because she has a dripping tap she could have five town councillors, two county councillors, a directly elected assembly member, a member of parliament, an MEP and list members from the assembly all standing in the garden dealing with one issue.

"If that is good business then I am the pig flying past the window now.

"There are too many of us, if there were less there would be better quality services at the other end."

Aldridge also warned against following the Scottish example of PR in local elections.

"I don’t agree with PR. I’m a Labour Party person, I’ve been in the Labour Party all my life, and if I wanted PR then I wouldn’t be in the party," he said.

"I don’t think you get good politics out of PR because what you get is a consensus without any kind of vision and if it gets a bit thorny everybody blames each other and inertia sets in."

Devolution impact

Concerns about the impact of devolution in England were also expressed by Local Government Association chairman Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart.

Speaking to this website, he called for clarity on the impact of regional assemblies.

"One of the first points that the LGA makes in its manifesto is that government must decide which are the very few aspects of public services which require national standards," he said.

"Most people agree that on some issues - possibly some aspects of education, possibly some aspects of social care - there should be some form of national standards, but very few people can understand why swimming pools, leisure services, the libraries need to be the same across England."