This completely ignores why local authorities became more centralised and the Scottish Parliament limited their remit. Corruption.

Local councils have terrible oversight and accountability. People don’t follow the developments in their local council, so their votes largely don’t reflect them. Larger councils are easier to oversee and more accountable to voters.

The centralisation efforts has also made services more consistent and more affordable. Most of the UK has seen a reduction in the services delivered by local authorities. This hasn’t been as much of a problem in Scotland because centralisation helps to cap costs. In England local authorities struggle to build as many homes and they have many schools no longer under their control.

The idea that local people should be involved in local decisions whilst an admirable idea, is practically very difficult with small local authorities. The elected members become less capable, easier to corrupt and less accountable. When only 500 people turn out to vote for you, no one even knows what you stand for or what your previous record has been. They are voting for the rosette. The end result is local affairs are regulated by the parish council tyrant. People with fuck all else to do and fuck all care about their impact on their community. Typically the local nutter that dodging the care home they should be confined to.