Local Government Perspective

I have been reading a book recently on Edinburgh history called Capital of the Mind.  It cites a conversation of the many times Lord Provost of Edinburgh George Drummond in 1763.  In it he explained to his interlocutor that the area to the north of the city would be built on (what is now called the New Town) and that he had first envisaged this in 1725.  Local government just doesn't have that kind of perspective these days.