It is the time of year when we look back at what we have achieved and look ahead to plans for the coming year. We started 2015 looking forward to an election, uncertain about what the outcome would be and what it meant for local government.

The only certainty was that there would be further cuts to contend with.To the surprise of everyone, including themselves, the Conservative Party won an outright majority at the election. This has given them the mandate to implement their manifesto commitments. This means more cuts to public spending, deeper for local government than any other part of the public sector. But it also means greater autonomy for local government both in terms of funding for local authorities shifting from national funding streams to local and in devolution deals.

The five devolution deals agreed so far hint at a different future for local government. The Government’s vision of a Northern Powerhouse and a midlands engine offer the tantalising promise of a new settlement and a route to therebalancing of the economy which the chancellor has been speaking of for a number of years.

The detail of how all this is going to work is, of course, still work in progress. The agreements to pursue an elected mayor model of combined authority in Liverpool and South Yorkshire in the face of earlier suggestions that these were not the preferred option demonstrate that the government’s strategy of pushing for an elected mayor as part of any agreement is working.

But what is the driving force behind the scramble for devolution. Is it just about the pursuit of powers and the levers to engineer economic growth? Or is it the catalyst for public service reform that we need to deliver services fit for the modern age and a sustainable health and social care system which is currently creaking under the pressure?

Is devolution the biggest structural change in local government since the early 1970s? Will it finally deliver a mini Boris for every city? Successive governments have believed that a mayoral form of governance in local authorities will deliver greater accountability. It seems that with the devolution agreements this government has found the mechanism for creating metro mayors in the face of at worst complete opposition from local politicians and the public and at best general apathy.

The view of local politicians appears to have been that agreement to a combined authority and a mayor is a price worth paying to obtain the prized devolution deal. Whether it turns out to be a prize worth having is probably something that only the ghost of Christmas yet to come could predict with any certainty. But the confidence of the sector to take on the challenge is consistent with the way it has faced austerity head on, continuing to deliver high quality services in the face of severe cuts.

Devolution will not be the antidote to the cuts but if it truly delivers greater power and accountability to local government then it will offer a brighter future ahead.

Simon Goacher is Head of Local Government at Weightmans