Greater Pilton and its Community Councils
Can we think there is a real chance that power to the peolpe and not just tokenism can only be devolved in a decision making way to local communities on matters which are basically fulfilling the stated requirement of being non party political.
It seems to be that on so many local issues there is no reason to think that local councillors have any great sensitivity or awareness which allows them to take final decisions rather than letting the local community take them.
With the new community councils there is no reason why this should not be done now. The problem seems to be that few elected representatives are willing to do this because they see it as a real threat to their role and influence.
In the first instance often at the first meeting the members are told that the community councils are NON POLITICAL - now theres an interesting concept which is open to many interpretations. However as time goes on and as the councils develop and start thinking for themselves[or are allowed to] on local issues affecting them directly, they may even think politically in all its aspects, and as soon as the councillors realise this they will point the finger and say-there you are they are political and in danger of undermining the democratic system by putting up a candidate to represent their own community-how questionable is that.
Of couse in the case of Royston and almost certainly Muirhouse they will have lapdogs in place to do the bidding of the councillors, inexperienced and naive office bearers who honestly think they can make a difference, this does damage to a community,for in the first instance they become very quickly impotent and unable to do anything other than what their councillor tells them.
So the message being sent out is wrong-if you are serious about local democracy you get the strongest people to lead the way with a good team beside them and allow them to flourish, this I  am  afraid has not happened instead the exact opposite, so instead of local democracy you will get the exact opposite.