PARTICIPATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

In British local government, public ‘participation’ and, more particularly, ‘consultation’ could be seen by the cynical as codewords, or passwords, for a democratic legitimacy that is increasingly fragile. Electoral turnouts of 40%, the lowest in the European Union,1 the accelerated centralisation of powers since 1979,2 and the rise of ‘consumerism’3 are perceived by many to challenge the very survival of local government as the local arm of democratic government. Yet if local government could in reality transform itself into the local arena for ‘citizenship’, connecting the triangle of individuals, community and government within the locality through processes of participation,4 this would give it a strong defence against attacks on its legitimacy in the future.