ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on those voluntary organizations representing residents’ interests in relatively small areas. These organizations, which are explicitly place political rather than party political, have been variously described as residents’ groups, amenity societies and neighbourhood associations. The residents of Central Berkshire, like those of other parts of the country, have also been affected by the range of externalities occurring in most urban regions. The perceived failure of the formal political channels to articulate place-specific issues has been an important generator of resident group formation. The large number of active groups indicates that in Central Berkshire residents’ groups either may have broadened their aims, or the reasons for their emergence continue to make groups active. The basic resource of residents’ groups is the membership which provides not only money and peoplepower but also respectability. As can be seen from the blocks, residents’ group core members have to devote considerable amounts of their limited spare time to running the groups.
