Consultation: A cure for local government?

This article considers what British government sought to achieve by making consultation a central plank of its local government reform programme and how far those expectations have been met. Ambitious predictions were made about the extent to which greater public involvement could strengthen relationships between local government and the community, enhance accountability, improve services and create an involved citizenry. Consultation was promoted as a panacea for ailing local democracy. The government also indicated, however, that it had a more pragmatic interest in consultation, seeing it as a way to limit local partisanship and reduce the role of non-executive councillors. By combining the expansion of consultation with the Best Value regime, it left local authorities with,little room for political innovation as they sought to satisfy the demands of their local populations and the external auditors. Using a case study approach, the article highlights the extent to which the use of consultation to fulfil these pragmatic goals has undermined its potential to act as a force to reinvigorate local government.