Leadership in Contemporary Local Government Reform: The Lyons Report & its Implications for Australasian Local Government

Abstract

This paper considers the impact of the increasing emphasis on leadership in public sector management as it pertains to local government. The reforms proposed in the recently completed Lyons Report into local government in England exemplify the current emphasis on leadership and offer a blueprint for change based upon an increase in financial power and decision-making capability within an overall framework denoted as 'place-shaping'. We critically assess its prescriptions for leadership in local government and argue that any adoption of the 'place-shaping' agenda in Australasia has to be tempered with an eye to familiar problems in public sector organisations of accountability, rent-seeking, cost-shifting and equity.