We have seen a number of key areas raised in the trade press, from the ongoing debate about Mayors, to the disaggregation of the Local Enterprise Partnership functions (with no mention of district councils) and more latterly a call from Greg Clark MP to move planning to be a, so called, upper tier responsibility.

From a military perspective, this could be described as ‘shaping the battle space’, or in other words, shaping a debate of upper tier vs lower tier, constructing a position based on form over function. This artificial debate is happening under the cover of the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill, which seems to be so wide in its ambition that it may have lost focus and with it, some momentum.