Legal Control of Administrative Discretion?

This chapter demonstrates that questions of housing availability underlay the decision-making processes of all three authorities. Since 1985, the councils had all moved away from a situation of excess supply, and while Western maintained a precarious balance in 1990, both Eastern and Midland were implementing Part III in the context of an intensifying supply deficit. While Chapters 4–10 suggest that accommodation supply may be the primary systemic determinant of administrative behaviour, there is no entirely straightforward and unambiguous relationship between housing availability and the conduct and outcome of administrative process; the three authorities responded to particular Part III applications in different ways according to other variables acting within or upon the administrative arena.