I was reassured back in November when the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill was amended to prevent the arbitrary shifting of responsibilities from one local government tier to another. But it seems that some didn’t get the memo that the moving of functions was offside.

The ‘upper’ versus ‘lower’ tier debate has re-emerged following the recent announcement that Local Enterprise Partnership powers would move to county councils, and not districts, and the bizarre call, from former levelling up secretary Greg Clark, for planning to move from districts to counties. These measures would do nothing to stimulate the economy, increase house building or support our residents most in need.