Community and Local Government Re-Organisation

Abstract

The Local Government Commission for England has already reported on its proposals for re-organisation of the fitst tranche of local authorities that it is due to consider. The government envisages that the Commission should complete its review of the remainder of the country by the end of 1994. This paper looks at the ways in which the concept of “community” has been used in the debate on a unitary structure for local government. The author argues that attempts to equate administrative efficiency in the delivery of services with “community identity” are seriously flawed, and that there is an underlying political agenda behind the introduction of this concept in the first place.