ABSTRACT
The impact of the Right to Buy extends beyond consideration of socio-tenurial divisions, the changing geography of tenure, and the changing structure of local housing markets. At various stages in this book we have referred to a centralisation of policy and the changing nature of central-local relations. This change has not come about without conflict and resistance. In this chapter we shall examine this dimension in greater detail, both as an input to the formulation and implementation of the policy and as a consequence of the policy process. In this respect the privatisation of council housing links to broader analyses of the erosion of local autonomy, constitutional change and the role of different levels of government in the delivery of welfare services.
