Who needs SBC?

The news that Scottish Borders Council has been helping itself to the Galashiels common good fund prompts the question: why don't local communities in the Borders run their own affairs more?

Instead of pilfering from these funds, SBC should be adding to them, by devolving its budget to towns and communities acorss the region on a proportionate basis. Locally elected community councils could take charge of everything from street management, to rubbish collection, to schools, to parks to libraries.

Maybe it's no coincidence that the heyday of Borders towns in terms of civic pride and architecture was when they ran their own affairs.

SBC was created in an optimistic bid for economies of scale. In fact it has contributed to waste and excessive Council Tax because it is too distant from its electorate. If the people of Kelso (to take a topical example) are unhappy wih the lack of zebra crossings in town, they can do nothin about it. Such decisions should be made locally.

There would be no problems with economies of scale. Towns could shop around nationwide for the best contractor to collect the rubbish or mow the lawns. Instead of paying a distorted fee for ill-defined services from SBC, they would pay a competitive price for the best service on offer. Costs would fall and quality would rise. We might even see a cut in Council Tax!