It has taken the largest local authority in the country to declare the municipal equivalent of bankruptcy, but the nation has finally woken up to the financial crisis engulfing our councils. Since 2018, when Northamptonshire became the first authority in 20 years to issue a section 114 notice, there has been a growing sense that the sector is sitting on a ticking time bomb.

The list of councils joining Northampton-shire’s ranks is now approaching double figures and each week more authorities warn that they too are running out of road.