In recent years, conversations with senior colleagues about the future of local government have tended to fall into two distinct categories.

On one side are the pessimists (they might, of course, call themselves the ‘realists’) who bemoan the perfect storm of austerity, increasing demand, lack of new talent and lousy press as the ‘end of local government as we know it’.

At the other end of the spectrum are the more optimistic types who see only the opportunities associated with change as a generational chance to clear out the old thinking, shift some of the dead wood and force the pace for some of the actions that have long been needed.