Does the reform of English local government contain lessons for New Zealand?

Abstract

In recent decades, despite differences of form and function, local government reform in England and New Zealand has exhibited very similar characteristics, with each system borrowing from the other: changes introduced in one country have usually been followed a few years later in the other. It is interesting, then, that at a time when both countries have centre-right governments, that trend now appears to have changed, and local government policy is  showing signs of major divergence. Where the New Zealand government appears to believe that only by greater ‘hands on’ involvement can the nation’s economic development be guaranteed, the British government has taken quite the opposite view, identifying the country’s high level of centralisation (second only to New Zealand’s in the OECD) as the problem, not the solution.