ABSTRACT
Best Value marks a strategic shift in local government policy making. This paper analyses how two local authorities prepared its implementation. CCT aimed to make authorities more innovative but failed because it was highly prescriptive. Best Value provides the opportunity for authorities to make more strategic choices. The two case studies show evidence of greater partnership development and examples of political and technical implementation problems. The paper also analyses opportunities for organisational learning and the role of members and the public. Best Value is seen as an incomplete idea and therefore has the possibility of resulting in a new form of bureaucratisation. Alternatively, if the focus is on community problems then it may enable authorities to be more innovative and dynamic.
