The enduring appeal of 'reasonable preference' : public sector housing allocations within the context of the central-local government relationship

Abstract

The thesis has two primary objectives. The first is to establish the nature and extent of the legal and quasi-legal rules imposed on local authorities in the period 1924 to 2002, and the degree of discretion they confer on them. The second objective is to analyse the rationale for adopting those rules and particularly to question whether the prevailing central-local relationship affects central government's decision to confer or limit discretion in this area.

The thesis examines housing allocations within the framework of two models of the central-local relationship; politicisation-juridification and heterogeneity. According to the first model, the processes of politicisation and juridification have led to a restructuring of the relationship between central and local government, and particularly a desire on the part of central government to structure (and limit) local authority discretion through the imposition of detailed statutory procedures on local decision-making. By contrast according to the latter model, a single theory that attempts to explain the entirety of central-local relations is not possible, since central government departments vary in their attitude to local authorities and behave differently in response to varying socio-political circumstances. Under the heterogeneity model, then, the socio-political background becomes the prime focus of attention since the conferment of discretionary authority can only be understood within its context.

While certain housing policies of the period exemplify the inter-related processes of politicisation and juridification, the specific case of housing allocations does not fit squarely within this model. The primary conclusion of this thesis is that the changes and perhaps more importantly, the lack of changes, in housing allocations legislation can only be understood by reference to the broader socio-political background; not simply the changing relationship between central and local government. This finding is closely associated with the heterogeneity model.

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