South Lanarkshire Conservatives called for the council to work to give control of Common Good funds to elected local representatives.

The Tory Group challenged the existing process of having the county-wide Finance and Corporate Resources Committee decide on grants to specific local projects.

Instead, they proposed the decisions be devolved to South Lanarkshire's four area committees.

These are made-up of all councillors within their respective districts of Clydesdale, East Kilbride, Hamilton, and Cambuslang and Rutherglen.

Councillor Alex Allison, the leader of the opposition Conservative Group, spoke in favour of reform.

He said: "The area committees are ideally placed to consider projects within local communities.

"South Lanarkshire is a large and diverse region. It includes rural and remote parts of the south of Scotland, major towns in the central belt and also suburbs of Greater Glasgow.

"Many decisions would be better made by all the councillors for the four respective districts, rather than by just some of the councillors drawn from across the entire region.

"It's about empowering communities and giving control to their own elected representatives.

"That's why we've proposed that the administration consider how decisions about Common Good funds can be safely devolved."

The call was made at the meeting of South Lanarkshire Council's Finance and Corporate Resources Committee in Hamilton on Wednesday 6 September.