20 October 2000
In a speech to the National Council for Housing and Planning annual conference in Bournemouth on October 17, Sir Jeremy attacked critics who 'ignore or play down the value of the public service ethos which animates so many of those who make a career in local government'.
But he stressed that critics were being given some ammunition by complacency in local authority circles.
'Whilst local government has coped with huge structural and legislative change in the past 20 or 30 years, not least in the realm of local government finance, there is still a degree of complacency and unresponsiveness and sometimes a failure to involve the community.'
Beecham added: 'In the run-up to the general election, local government has to make its case for a genuine partnership role in local governance, especially in the context of regeneration, social inclusion and the consequences of environmental change.'
PFoct2000
