Speaking as a S151 officer at Thanet, I can report that Kent S151 officers work really well together – not just the districts but the county and unitary. This has manifested in a successful business rate pool, and a successful bid to be a business rates pilot. So we’re up for contributing to the debate on the future of business rates and local government funding in general.

However, speaking for myself, I do sometimes step back from the hugely complex business rates system and wonder if, in the attempt to balance local/national, need/reward, tweaking a top-up here or a tariff there, we have lost sight of the mess that is local government funding.