ABSTRACT
In the previous three chapters, we have attempted to review the major issues and decisions involved in three service areas – planning, housing and the social services – that have been very much at the centre of urban politics in post-war Britain. The issues they pose have also been central to much of British politics generally, and in all three cases we have clearly seen the penetration of the locality by the centre. In other words, the politics of central government are closely related to the political processes of the city and vice versa.
