May 2015 heralded a number of changes – the beginning of summer, a new majority government and the start of a new relationship between two representative bodies; often seen as on opposite sides of the local government family.

Surprising, then, that the District Councils’ and County Councils’ Networks (DCN, CCN) have signed up to a Joint Statement of Intent, committing the two national networks to ‘encourage and support’ their member authorities to ‘design and deliver devolution proposals (and) promote collaboration’.

Not so surprising to me, as a long-time advocate for ‘clusters’ of districts to work together towards common ends – securing growth, regenerating towns and rural areas and being open to work with other partners (including county councils) to achieve improved quality of life for residents and success for local businesses.