I’ve spent a big part of the last six months working on proposals for a combined authority for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. This brings together a city, a county and seven districts in a single formal entity to address key priorities around economic development and transportation. It also gives us the ability to engage with government in a more structured discussion about devolved powers.

This is not without its challenges. Have we identified the right boundaries for collaboration? Where does sovereignty lie? Is this a cipher for local government reorganisation? How can we best balance issues of population scale and geography?

Resolving these and many other questions takes trust. This is the real building block for this kind of collaboration. Trust takes time and the engagement of leaders to build.