ABSTRACT
As environmental management emerged as a key issue during the 1970s and 1980s, so local government became one of the main agencies entrusted with its execution. Several researchers have identified the numerous initiatives of ‘green planning’ and environmental reporting which were introduced over this period (see Selman, 1996 for a summary). More recently, however, our concerns have extended from environmental management per se to the more complex issue of sustainable development, with its wider recognition of behavioural and institutional change, quality of life and community participation. Consequently, during the 1990s, we have witnessed a shift of emphasis from ‘local government and the environment’ to one of ‘local governance and sustainability’, implying a deepening and broadening of component issues.
