Southside Community Council considered the above document at its March meeting. Comments other than positive were limited.
Specifically, we felt there needed to be more clarity around auditing procedures. See paragraphs 11.2 and 11.3. The requirement to appoint auditors at the AGM and then have them audit a set of accounts for the following year’s AGM seemed onerous and somewhat impractical.
Secondly, we felt that the document was especially silent on the subject of using the Community Council election process to promote the existence of Community Councils and the opportunities of being a community councillor. We felt there is much more that could be done around this and that this could usefully be reinforced by some specific commitments in this document.
Beyond that, however, we began to talk in more general terms about the powers of Community Councils in Scotland, relative to England, for example. Whilst these issues are probably outwith the scope of this document, being national issues at the discretion of the Scottish Government/Parliament, rather than the City Council, it is nonetheless a useful discussion to have and to reflect as part of this consultation and elsewhere. For that reason, an opportunity for further discussion will be allowed at the April meeting and for comments to be reflected in the response to this document, as appropriate, or to be captured and reflected elsewhere.
Tim
Chair, Southside CC
March 2019