Privatisation, partnerships and the building industry

The 1980s have been characterised by increasing political controversy in Britain. Dominant forces within the Conservative Party began to argue for the reassertion of the pre-eminence of market forces and the restriction of state spending on the social services. Local government in general and housing provision in particular have been opened up to the scrutiny of market forces and competition. This study examines one area of housing privatisation through the sale of council estates to private developers for refurbishment and sale on the open market. The 1980s have witnessed a drastic decline in the level of public housebuilding. This switch in government policy with regard to public housing investment has had a major effect on the organisation and approaches taken by the private sector in the housing production and regeneration process in cities, notably as a result of the changed flow and source of contracts and grant resources for production. Through study of estate sales, two major areas have been explored. Firstly, the perception of the building industry to the curtailment of public housing contracts and the mass privatisation, through a variety of measures, of remaining council stock is examined. In particular, the view that housing regeneration has been impeded where the public sector has "crowded out" the private sector is evaluated. Secondly, the development is significant in the root and branch reform of local govememt where if exemplifies growing centralism over the affairs of democratic local government. In the period 1978-88 central government unleashed sixty legislative Acts onto local government. Combined with an equally broad range of financial cuts there is increasing evidence that the central-local relationship could become one-sided. Consumers have been encouraged to exercise choice but in relation to ability to pay.