過去十數年以來，出現了全球性的地方政府改革。儘管國家之間容或有別，但全球共同的趨勢似是：改善地方府管理、治與服務提供的績效，包括建立績效標準，以及改善地方發展的規劃與執行的機制。布萊爾所領導的英國新工黨，在執政之後，陸續在地方政府層次推動不少改革措施，總稱為「地方府現代化議程」，這包括發佈「地方政府白皮書」，並且陸續修訂地方政府法，將相關變革議程加以法制化。主要的政策議程包括：改變政治結構、推動全面性最佳價值計畫、法定的公共諮商程序強化地方參與、設計地區發展策略、強化地方領導並促進地方福祉等等。從英國地方治理與績麥管理的結構與範圍的近期發展而言，可以看出未來地方府管理、地方治理一般性的兩股重要發展趨勢，包括：績效管理與評鑑向下延展到地方政府，以及透過公共諮商與外部參與，強化地方治理網絡並且深化民主。地方政府不僅要滿足顧客需要，更要建立制度以鼓勵社區利害關係人參與，自行解決在地的問題。因此，部份學者熱烈討論與彰顯的地方治理現象與觀察視野，似乎經由英國地方政府的法籼規範與實務形式的濾鏡，獲得比較具體的形象。

Althought there are specific national lpatterns of local government reforms, there has been an international trend towards the improvement of local governance and local services delivery-both in terms of the performance standards set and the mechanisms for planning and implementing service improvement.Tony Blair’s New Labour Patry came to power in 1997 committed ot modernizing a local government system. This article is a study of some key policies in the government’s modernization agenda for local government: directly elected executive mayors, best value services, public consulatiation and corporate strategy for communities.After exploring recent trends in local government and community reform in UK, we think a good local government implies high performance not only in managing local services so that they can satisfy customers, but also in enabling local communities to solve their own problems. The successful design and implementation of high quality services involves the participation of stakeholders based on consultation in the community; which might be apllied to defied and identified ‘local governance’.