The Constitutional Status of Local Government

Abstract

On 1 April 1974 a new structure of local government came into existence, bringing to a resolution an intense period of inquiry and review which had taken place over much of the previous decade. This new system was designed to restore the status of local government which had been thought to be in danger of being severely eroded owing to the fact that local government structures no longer ‘fit[ted] the pattern of life and work in modern England’.1 In the following twenty years, the system of local government has been subject to a vast array of changes, many of which challenge the assumptions underpinning the local government reforms of the 1970s and which cumulatively have had a profound impact on the status of local government. The pace of change has been particularly pronounced since 1979 as successive Conservative governments have acted with great vigour to redefine the appropriate relationship between state and society and, as part of this endeavour, have sought to set in place a more limited role for local government. This new role, which is slowly emerging, has proved highly controversial.