ABSTRACT
The main purpose for which local government came into existence and developed in the many forms it has taken since the Middle Ages, is to provide services for citizens. The relief of poverty, the provision of public education, the construction of sewers, the provision of hospitals, clean water, highways and public transport services, have all been local government functions, although many are now provided by bodies other than local authorities (Loughlin, Gelfand and Young (eds), 1985). They were provided by local bodies of various kinds, often responsible for a single function or a narrow range of functions, until multifunctional local authorities as we now know them were established throughout the country at the end of the nineteenth century (Chandler, 1991; Kingdom, 1991). The provision of such services absorbs most of the money paid to local authorities from local taxes and Government grants. It gives employment to the vast majority of their staffs and is the purpose of most of the buildings erected and maintained by local councils.
