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March 7, 2023
Highlands too big
With the impending changes at the top of the Scottish Government everyone is indulging in a bit of speculation as to what shape a new cabinet will take and in what direction it might travel. Comments on the hoof and half answers at hustings are always prey to being misinterpreted as full blown policy ideas but when two of the three contenders speak to the same issue, it’s worth taking note. Kate Forbes and Ash Regan have both said that the area served by Highland Council is too large. Although neither mentioned local government reorganisation, it makes you wonder.
SNP leadership contenders Kate Forbes and Ash Regan have both said at a hustings in Inverness that Highland Council should be broken up into smaller, more locally representative bodies. Ms Forbes said that in “the Highlands and Islands, the approach to social care … the approach to local government, the approach to fill in the potholes is going to look different in Portree than it does in Inverness”, while Ms Regan agreed that Highland Council is “clearly enormously large and it means that people don’t feel connection in the way that the decisions are made”.