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March 24, 2020
Democracy Matters disappointment
It’s hard to process just how quickly the notion of meeting face to face, and in reasonable numbers, has become a thing of the past. But less than a fortnight ago, Scottish Government and COSLA had invited a significant number to attend the launch of the next phase of the Democracy Matters conversation. The last minute postponement due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ (nothing to do with Covid-19) was a significant disappointment. Although understandably taking a back seat in the current climate, we will be looking for an early rebooting of this important initiative once the coronavirus crisis has passed.
Update from Scottish Government – March 2020
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to postpone the planned launch of the second phase of the Local Governance Review on 12 March.
Subsequently, with new public health measures on coronavirus announced this week, it will not be possible for Democracy Matters conversations to take place in the immediate future. We know this news will be disappointing to many of you who are passionate about local democracy and community empowerment. However, in these difficult times, the health and wellbeing of people needs to be our primary concern.
We hope to restart the conversations as soon as it is safe and practical to do so. A small group of stakeholders from the community sector, equalities interests, Local Government, and the Scottish Government met with the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government and the COLSA President on 12 March to discuss their hopes for the next phase of engagement, once it gets underway. We will be in touch with the group on any developments, and with you, so keep an eye out for future editions of our newsletter