Global pandemic and cost of living crisis aside, last week’s Local Government Association conference in Harrogate felt remarkably familiar. Seven years on from the last time the sector congregated in the North Yorkshire town, surprisingly little has changed.

Same event, same place, same issues facing the country. Adults and children’s social care are yet to be fixed. Austerity is still an issue. And we haven’t got a plan for climate change nor a long-term solution to the thorny issue of how to fund public services in the future.

In July 2015, when we last met in Harrogate, the then communities secretary Greg Clark - now back again - promised to champion devolution. In the opening paragraph of an article he penned for The MJ, he acknowledged politicians had spent decades vowing to decentralise while hoarding power at a national level.