Monday December 29th 2025
Mayfield, Midlothian
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Community Councils play a key role in Scotland – and the wider UK’s – local democratic landscape, being one of the primary voices for local residents away from a government body.
A community council can be described as a voluntary body of local residents that act as the most local representation for their community, influencing decisions and providing a voice for the community to authorities. Despite not being decision-making bodies, community councils are a recognised part of Scotland’s local democratic structures.
First established in Scotland, they serve as a grassroots democratic body to voice the community’s views.
With approximately 1,200 active community councils in Scotland, Midlothian is home to 15 (after Poltonhall and Bonnyrigg merged last year), who all play a vital role in the county’s towns and local communities.
An example of recent community council action in Midlothian is the Save Kippielaw Campaign, where a member of the Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council ran a campaign that eventually stopped a housing development proposal on a large area of natural space in Midlothian.
Speaking to the Midlothian View, the Chairman of the Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council, Robert Hogg, described community council’s as ‘the only people who stand up for the local community’, he explained:
“A community council is there to represent the local community, first and foremost, and that’s what it’s all about.”
First established in Scotland, Community Council’s operate under the Local Government Act 1973, which requires local authorities (the Midlothian Council) to establish schemes for them, giving them a statutory role to represent community views, especially on planning and licensing, which can be seen in the case of the Save Kippielaw Campaign. Despite other forms of local governance existing in the UK prior, such as English Parish Councils, Scotland’s 1973 Act created ‘the specific statutory framework for modern community councils’.
Robert has been the chair of his community council for over 15 years, playing a key role in the council reforming in 1995 after it stopped operating in the early 70’s.
“I got involved because we used to have a community council before in the early 70’s but for whatever reason it fell away”, Robert explained, “Back in 1995, there was a demand for one, after the miners’ strike and other things and we saw a community demise, things weren’t getting done and a lot of local residents were unhappy.
“So a group of us got together and contacted the council about how to go about restructuring the community council again because we thought it was a good thing in the past. So we managed to get the Midlothian Council to organise a public meeting and we went and established the Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council through normal protocol, got a public meeting and we all got elected as officials.”
Alongside being chair of the Mayfield and Easthouses Community Council, Robert is also the chair of the Midlothian Federation of Community Councils, serving as the top member of the 15 council collective.
A Federation of Community Councils isn’t one single body, but instead a federation of all the local community councils that come together to share ideas and tackle common issues that are seen across the region.
Robert explained: “Midlothian’s federation is made up of 15 community councils including Midlothian’s rural areas and bigger towns. It is basically made to represent the whole of Midlothian.
“So you have your individual community councils representing the local community and the local area but the federation is a combination of all the community councils to basically have a bigger voice within Midlothian.
“So rather than one community council shouting, if we all shout together, you get your voice heard a lot clearer within the Midlothian Council and beyond. There’s one voice rather than 15 independent voices so it is better if we all get together.”
Midlothian’s federation allows for shared issues to have a stronger voice and effect, allowing for a higher chance of change.
“It’s all about merging together and having the same voice, that carries a lot more strength.”
Every federation member from the 15 community councils can have two representatives to join them. Once elected in, these representatives will attend federation meetings and feedback any information to the local community council.
Robert added: “Another thing good about the Federation is, if we get a Chief Inspector to come in and they want to speak to the community it’s hard for them to go round every community council, but if he comes to the federation he can target the 15 in one go. He can get a message out and that’s the same for anything regarding planning, education and so on.”
This format has been effective so far with Robert explaining about visits from inspectors and the Midlothian Council leader, Kelly Parry, who has attended a number of different meetings.
Taking over from Archie Pacey, the old Headteacher at Greenhall High School, in 1995, Robert has had a strong effect on the Mayfeild and Easthouses Community Council with the community council being the largest in Midlothian.
Having the most members in the county, Robert believes a portion of the success may be due to his strong performance as chair.
“First and foremost, not being big headed, but succes comes from having a good chair. You are controlling the meetings and that is very important. If you can control a meeting and give everybody a chance to have a fair say it is important as you do get a fraction of people who are very unhappy and they should have a chance to speak.
“You have to show that you are listening to the whole community, not dictating them as that’s the wrong attitude.”
Despite Mayfield and Easthouses having the most members, Robert explained that across Midlothian there are challenges in getting new members, especially amongst the younger population.
With their youngest member being around 17 years old, Robert and other members turned to Facebook to both attract overall new members and younger residents.
He explained that since starting the Facebook page, it has grown to have over 17,000 members despite their local area only having a population of around 9,500. He described this as one of the main reasons for their large numbers and success in making change in the area.
He also explained that a lot of members come and go due to having a specific local issue of interest.
“You get a lot of people who move into the community and are intestersted in a certain issue, such as local schools being threatened, and they come along and will maybe stay for about a year and then naturally leave.”
Having 17,000 members on the Facebook page, the community council only has around 15 steady members with a turnout at meetings of around 25 to 30. Despite being the largest in Midlothian, the community council find it hard having local residents stick around, with the Save Kippielaw Campaign meetings attracting over 90 attendees.
With past success’, it is evident that community council’s are important in Scotand as the voice for local communities. For local voices to be heard in governance, Community Councils need to continue to attract more members as they are at the forefront in making change and addressing local issues.
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