Councillors and Interest Groups in Kensington and Chelsea

The majority of studies of local government in England have tended to be either detailed summaries of the statutes that have shaped the structures and functions of local authorities, or else they have been essays upon debatable problems of local government. The heavy stress placed upon the importance of law, and upon the extent of central control, has meant that there have not been systematic attempts to look at local authorities as policy-making bodies in their own right. Instead it has been argued that local authorities act as ‘agents’ administering and executing policies the broad lines of which have been worked out by the Central Government.