This Programme charts the course for local government into the new millennium. It sets out the approaches to be followed, and the measures to be taken, to enable local government to realise it full potential as an instrument of democratic local self-government and as a means of delivering quality public services. Local government has served this country well. Today, local authorities are responsible for many of the essential services on which we depend - housing, roads, water services, the planning system, environment improvement, fire safety, amenities.
Local authorities have a record of achievement of which they can justifiably be proud.
There have been improvements in recent years but now is the time for a strategic approach to local government renewal. The Programme is the culmination of an extensive process of analysis and consultation about the place of local government in our economy and society, a process which was initiated by commitments in A Government of Renewal to improved public services and better local government. The Programme sets out the Government's decisions on local government renewal and details of action to achieve it. Also at the heart of the Programme is the conviction that the renewal of local government will not be real and lasting unless the councillors, managers and staff in local authorities commit themselves wholeheartedly to, and play a full part in, the process of change. There must be self-renewal.