Citizens, Consumers and Councils: Local Government and the Public PDF
Preview Citizens, Consumers and Councils: Local Government and the Public
~ GBC 1. .... 1 ______ I i ______ GOVERNMENT BEYOND THE CENTRE SERIES EDITORS: GERRY STOKER & STEVE LEACH The world of sub-central government and administration - includ- ing local authorities, quasi-governmental bodies and the agencies of public-private partnerships - has seen massive changes in recent years and is at the heart of the current restructuring of government in the United Kingdom and other Western democracies. The intention of the Government Beyond the Centre series is to bring the study of this often-neglected world into the mainstream of social science research, applying the spotlight of critical analysis to what has traditionally been the preserve of institutional public administration approaches. Its focus is on the agenda of change currently being faced by sub-central government, the economic, political and ideological forces that underlie it, and the structures of power and influence that are emerging. Its objective is to provide up-to-date and informative accounts of the new forms of government, manage- ment and administration that are emerging. The series will be of interest to students and practitioners of politics, public and social administration, and all those interested in the reshaping of the governmental institutions which have a daily and major impact on our lives. Government Beyond the Centre Series Editors: Gerry Stoker and Steve Leach Published Wendy Ball and John Solomos (eds) Race and Local Politics Richard Batley and Gerry Stoker (eds) Local Government in Europe Clive Gray Government Beyond the Centre John Gyford Citizens, Consumers and Councils Richard Kerley Managing in Local Government Steve Leach, John Stewart and Kieron Walsh The Changing Organisation and Management of Local Government Yvonne Rydin The British Planning System John Stewart and Gerry Stoker (eds) Local Government in the 1990s David Wilson and Chris Game with Gerry Stoker and Steve Leach An Introduction to Local Government Series Standing Order If you would like to receive future titles in this series as they are published, you can make use of our standing order facility. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty,write to us at the address below with your name and address and the name of the series. Please state with which title you wish to begin your standing order. (If you live outside the United Kingdom we may not have the rights for your area, in which case we will forward your order to the publisher concerned.) Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS, England Citizens, Consumers and Councils Local Government and the Public John Gyford M MACMILLAN © John Gyford 1991 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1991 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-52535-7 ISBN 978-1-349-21536-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21536-2 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Reprinted 1994 In memory of my parents Contents Preface IX 1 Local Government and the Public 1 Social groups 1 Individual roles 8 Reappraisals 21 2 Pressures for Change 23 After the industrial city 24 A more diverse and assertive society 32 Politics under pressure 41 3 Participation: Taking Part 52 Co-option 55 User participation 59 Public participation and popular planning 72 4 Consultation: The Right to be Heard 80 Forums for consultation 80 Petitions, questions and complaints 93 Opinion polling 101 5 Information and Access 106 Improving access 107 Public relations 115 Marketing 120 vii Vlll Contents 6 Diversity, Pluralism and Choice 125 The informal sector 128 The voluntary sector 135 The private sector 141 Municipal pluralism? 147 7 Models of Change 152 Local shareholders 153 Local consumers 162 Local citizens 170 An enabling politics? 180 Bibliography 188 Index 206 Preface The basic challenges facing contemporary local government have been summed up as follows: 'Local authorities have to become closer to their public as customer and citizen [and] resources have to be managed to achieve value in service .. .' (Clarke and Stewart, 1989, p.v). In this book I am concerned with the first of these challenges, becoming closer to the public, rather than with the second, managing resources, although of course the two are not unrelated. I have attempted to provide an illustrative, rather than a definitive, account of the ways in which local authorities have been trying to get closer to their public: the pages which follow represent an essay in reconnaissance rather than research in a field of rapidly developing activity. It has not been possible to refer to every single initiative currently taking place but I hope that those discussed will give a fair idea of the range of ventures that are under way. To those local authorities which provided me with access to officers, members, documents and publications I am extremely grateful. I also acknowledge with great thanks the assistance of the Nuffield Foundation, whose award of a grant helped considerably in the preparation of this book. I all) also indebted to Steven Kennedy, Steve Leach and Gerry Stoker for some sound editorial advice and to Layla Buzinin for converting my handwriting into a typescript. The purpose of what follows is not to provide a manual of good practice, for such documents are now readily available from the former Local Government Training Board (now the Local Government Management Board), the Audit Commission and the Institute of Local Government Studies. Instead I have attempted to link the development of such good practice with the context IX x Preface from which it emerged and with recent debates about 'the proper place of local government in our society' (Ridley, 1988, p.5). Any shortcomings in this attempt are of course my own. JOHN GYFORD
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