A century ago, Britain's bigger local authorities were mighty beasts. They ran most public services: education, tramways, roads and lighting, the police, sewers, libraries, parks and museums and in many cases water, gas, electricity and health services. The growth of council housing, planning, recreation and social services gave them even more to do. Yet their leaders were unpaid, and town clerks' salaries (no chief executives then) were modest.
In 1945, the notion that our town halls could be stripped of most of their powers and that their occupants would be thrashing around for something to do would have seemed ludicrous. Then came Labour's nationalisation programme, which brought energy provision and most health services under centralised control. Councils weathered this, and got on with meeting their other challenges.
Peter Walker's 1974 reorganisation inadvertently started the process of bidding-up senior staff salaries, modest expenses for councillors came in and the police slipped out of council control as larger forces became the vogue. But councils entered the 1980s still ostensibly doing the same job.
Then came the triple driving forces of Thatcherism: privatisation, deregulation and compulsory competitive tendering. ‘Right to buy’ decimated the housing stock, water was privatised, municipal bus services were hived off, contractors took the place of direct labour and schools began opting out.
Council leaders and chief officers consoled themselves financially, and sought new functions to exercise. In Dean Acheson's words, they had ‘lost an empire and not yet found a role’.
First came the craze for ‘nuclear free zones’. More recently we have seen councils banning school plays in case they upset Muslims, snooping in residents' dustbins and lovingly designing 5ft cycle lanes, leading the average council tax payer to believe they are chronically overstaffed. Meanwhile, the salaries of some chief executives and chief officers have risen to Pharaonic levels, and some elected members have been claiming remuneration that embarrasses their parties.
To many, local government appears a costly and irrelevant husk, and the perfect target at a time of cuts. Yet the structure, and the machine, remain fundamentally sound.
Ever since Tony Crosland told councils 36 long years ago that ‘the party's over’, Whitehall has sought to reduce their responsibilities while hobbling comprehensively the limited powers they have left. Even now, Michael Gove is stampeding another clutch of schools out of their control.
No governing party dares say outright that local government is a bad thing; its councillors would be wiped out at the next election. But, equally, no minister I can recall has boasted that our system of local government is a strength that should be built on.
Here's a suggestion for the coalition. Take a close look at the machinery of local government, its professional resources and its capacity to serve the public. See what is left, despite the ravages of centralism and a Whitehall-inflicted loss of confidence, and how good so much of it is. Then consider the patchy record of quangos and arm's length agencies, many set up to undertake functions once done better by accountable local government, and ask yourselves if the public would not be better served by a touch of localism.
Give our councils something to do - and you will be surprised at the results you get.
Nick Comfort has been municipal correspondent of the Sheffield Morning Telegraph, a Daily Telegraph political correspondent and special adviser to the Secretary of State for Scotland
