A report on a 24-hour event for Scottish local authorities and their partners, held in June 2006, which explored the emerging role for neighbourhoods in local governance.

Key points arising from the discussion included:

• It is important for communities and local authorities to form a good working relationship.
• There was widespread agreement that both representative and participatory democracy were important.
• It is important to recognise the different challenges in rural and urban neighbourhoods.
• The benefits of community planning and better local governance should not just be felt by well-organised communities.
• Many different people should be involved, so that participation at neighbourhood level is genuinely broad-based.
• Strong leadership is needed to back up decisions taken.