Explore New Municipalism
An alternative Local Government structure, taking Scotland from 32 jumbo-sized Unitary Councils to 128 Municipalities in 10 Regions and 5 Unitary Authorities
Report
Read the full New Municipalism report on redrawing the map of local government in Scotland
Principles
The basics of how the project works
Questions and Answers
Some things you might want answered without having to go through the whole report
Region Select
For detailed descriptions of each Region and Municipality
Interactive Map
Find how your local area would look under these proposals
Other Maps
Other useful New Municipalism maps, and maps of previous local government structures
Local Government in Scotland doesn’t work – it’s neither truly local, nor does it truly govern. Compared to our European neighbours, councils are too remote from they people they serve and too tightly controlled by the national government. Even were those controls to be loosened, no decentralisation to the current 32 councils can truly empower local communities, or re-connect them with their elected representatives. 30 years after Scotland’s last Local Government re-organisation it’s time to recognise how flawed it was and work to undo the damage.
New Municipalism: Renewing Truly Local Government in Scotland is one outline for that re-organisation. Building on an earlier version published in early 2020, it envisions a return to traditional two-tier local governance with 128 Municipalities, responsible for the most local services, and 11 Regional Councils, which would manage strategic services over a wider area.
Crucially, whilst this report includes specific examples of redrawn boundaries, it does so simply to serve as a useful example. Any genuine re-organisation process would need to involve and be informed by substantially more genuine democratic engagement than any of the preceding Local Government acts.
This website serves as both a home for and a companion to the report, and partly ties it to my other work at Ballot Box Scotland. If you have any questions about New Municipalism, you can email me at allan@newmunicipalism.ballotbox.scot.