Abstract It is now just over twenty years since the Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland was established and set in train a process which ultimately, through the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973, brought about the most radical reorganisation of local government ever witnessed in Scotland. The principles upon which Wheatley hoped to build his well‐grounded and enduring structure are under siege, where not actually breached. Renewed interest in a Scottish Assembly threatens the very existence of the present pattern of local government. For those actively involved, the day‐to‐day experience of local government is not of contributing to a healthy local democracy, but of conflict, frustration and disillusionment. The causes of the present malaise lie jointly in the very idea, enshrined in the 1973 Act, that services and functions can be allocated between two tiers of local government, and in the sustained attack by central government on the autonomy and powers of local government.