To a rosy-cheeked child leaving school for the summer holidays, the six-week stretch of freedom seems an almost unfathomably large stretch of time. It’s a daunting prospect for any young mind to take in such pure and unadulterated freedom. How will one while away those long afternoons?

A similar sensation occurs when considering the upcoming four months of campaigning that will lead us to the European Union referendum. We are just a fortnight in, yet the prevailing mood already seems one of jaded apathy. Parties are divided, leaders at loggerheads and everyone else faces 17 weeks of little else on the news agenda.

Not that we’re counting, but how will local government survive the next 2,688 hours? It would be fair to say the sector has been left somewhat caught in the middle. While councils will undoubtedly bear the brunt of whatever decision is made when voters go to the polls, they are in a bind on whether to enter the political maelstrom and put their weight behind the In or Brexit camps.

As is always raised, it is nigh on impossible to generalise across Britain’s local authorities. Each is made up of its patchwork quilt of political allegiances and individual local priorities. Such a climate makes responding with a single voice decidedly tricky.

Individual authorities that have dived in have done so, it must be said, slightly unconvincingly. Bromley LBC last week became the first Conservative council to defy the prime minister and back a Brexit.

Its leader Cllr Stephen Carr – who himself abstained from voting on the motion – says the borough will have ‘no impact on whether we come out of the EU or not’.

‘If we’d voted a different way, would it have made a difference? No,’ he adds. ‘It’s not going to affect any policy or direction.’

Significantly, Cllr Carr says he believes ‘councils don’t need to take a position’ on the debate at all.

Many influential local government bodies, whose endorsement would have represented quite a coup for either campaign, are taking a similar stance. The mood for many thus far is that a poll of member opinions would elicit a different answer from almost every authority questioned.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has said it will remain neutral throughout, while London Councils, the Society for Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the New Local Government Network have also elected to steer clear of backing either camp.

Perhaps reflecting the significance of the EU to Britain’s communities outside of England, other regions have been much more forthcoming on making their voices heard.

Cllr Bob Bright, Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) spokesperson on Europe, wasted little time following confirmation of the referendum date in announcing the body would ‘make a clear and positive case for the UK remaining a member state of the EU’.

In a damning indictment of those campaigning for a Brexit, Cllr Bright said the WLGA had ‘no confidence the scale of financial support that has been made available to Wales over recent years, and which will continue up to 2020 and beyond, would be continued were we to come out of the EU and be dependent on the UK Government’.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is set to decide on its stance at a meeting next week. Whether this is a position at all will be undoubtedly significant.

Some of Britain’s largest urban areas in the Core Cities and Key Cities group have also come out in support of Britain remaining in the EU.

Leader of Sunderland City Council and chair of the Key Cities Group, Paul Watson, is clear local government must raise its voice in support of Britain’s EU membership.

He says he ‘cannot pretend’ the final verdict of the referendum won’t impact on Sunderland, so ‘cannot pretend I don’t have an opinion’.

‘It’s my duty, as an elected representative of the people of Sunderland and as the leader of the council responsible for delivering their services, to speak out,’ he puts it blunty.

‘We are elected to serve our democracy, and this will be the biggest single democratic decision we will make as a country.’

Mr Watson adds the result of the referendum will ‘affect our economy and our society in the decades to come’ and vows to ‘speak out strongly in favour’ of EU membership that has been a ‘lifeline’ in the North East.

Financial security will clearly be a significant influence for local authorities, who have dealt with six years of austerity but aren’t out of the woods yet.

Northern Powerhouse minister James Wharton – who incidentally backs the Vote Leave group – has admitted the Department for Communities and Local Government has not yet carried out a recent estimate of the effect of the European Regional Development Fund on economic growth. Work is said to be ongoing on assessing what impact an exit from the EU might have on the department’s work surrounding this cash source.

Others are clearer in their opinion of how local government will fare once the polls close, chief among them deputy director of Stronger In, Lucy Thomas.

She argues Local Enterprise Partnerships were set to receive ‘over £8bn in EU funding’ between 2014 and 2020, producing jobs and revitalising communities through investment in apprenticeships, infrastructure and small businesses.

‘Leaving Europe would damage local economies creating additional pressures on local communities,’ Ms Thomas tells The MJ.

She adds she was ‘pleased’ to hear communities secretary Greg Clark had come out in support of Britain remaining in the EU.

‘He recognises councils and communities across Britain are stronger in Europe, that the prime minister’s renegotiation has delivered a good deal for our country and that leaving would create risk and uncertainty.’

With sovereignty fears remaining a key argument of the Brexit camp, Ms Thomas disputes suggestions that around 70% of EU legislation is enacted locally on issues ranging from waste management to trading standards. Instead, she says, the ‘vast bulk’ of UK law and regulation is ‘home grown’.

‘Independent experts at the House of Commons Library put the proportion of UK law that comes from the EU at just 13%. Britain’s independence is not under threat. We are an independent nation within the EU, just as Germany, France and others are, with the same rights as they have.’

She concludes by asking ‘councillors and council leaders from across Britain to support our campaign, and make the case why their communities are stronger, safer and better off in Europe’.

A representative from Vote Leave was unavailable to comment. Yet it would be fair to expect this call for local authority support would have been mirrored by the pro-Brexit campaigners.

The decision of London mayor and newly-elected MP Boris Johnson to back the Vote Leave camp no doubt smarted for both David Cameron and Ms Thomas. He has since gone on to brand the campaign to stay in the EU as ‘Project Fear’ working to ‘spook’ British communities.

Typical of the back-and-forth debate set to fill column inches over coming months, Mr Cameron was quick to insist he was in fact leading ‘Project Fact’ and it was leaving Europe that would instead create ‘a lot of uncertainty’.

Allowing local government to scrutinise impartial and accurate information will be crucial in allowing the sector to take an informed stance. Chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Rob Whiteman says surveys of public service leaders his organisation has already undertaken show ‘distinct’ regional variations of opinion.

While the body is at the moment more focused on research into the issue than advocating a stance, Mr Whiteman says leaders it has canvassed are indicating EU membership to be ‘on balance advantageous’ in relation to issues including security, health and community well-being.

However elements of the sector are still making strong opinion heard. Chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit think tank, Jonathan Carr-West, says councils ‘will have more tools to drive economic growth in their areas if the UK remains in the EU’.

‘It’s also important to remember that political sovereignty sits at local as well as national level and is therefore compatible with continuing membership of the EU. Indeed the focus on national sovereignty within the debate could be seen as a challenge to local autonomy,’ he adds.

Chief executive of think-tank Localis, Alex Thomson, agrees with the LGA’s neutrality, arguing that it ‘wouldn’t be wise’ for bodies to ‘tell people what to do’ on issues such as the referendum. Despite this, he passionately supports the right of individual councils themselves to take a stance.

Given its membership, SOLACE’s impartiality is of little surprise. Nevertheless, the body is issuing guidance in coming months over officer behaviour in the run up to the polls.

Its director Graeme McDonald says that in an environment where councils and individuals are legally ‘restricted’ on what they can say, returning officers need to be ‘careful about what they’re saying and what they’ve said in the past about all things European because they can be construed in such a way they might cause some difficulties’.

Whether local government can comment or not, an opinion is crying out to be made. While this needn’t necessarily be from bodies such as the LGA, the financial security at stake warrants a response from local authorities.

Councils, as goes the well-worn argument for devolution, are best placed to understand their own economies and demands. Just as the decentralisation debate moves forward, town halls cannot be pushed to toe the line on Britain’s EU membership. They are also in an unparraleled position to say just how funding uncertainty following a Brexit would impact on communities, services and quality of life.

School’s out for the next four months. Local government just needs to make sure it has done its homework before the polls close this summer.