This month sees the biggest event in the SOLACE calendar – our annual summit: Leading Local Solutions.

The summit brings together chief executives and senior managers from across the country with leading academics, social entrepreneurs and business figures to discuss the issues of the moment in a supportive environment.

Whether it is examining major strategic trends, exploring the latest leadership thinking or developing our support networks, the event provides senior management in local government a welcome opportunity to learn, consider and reflect – all too rare commodities in these highly pressured times.

It is both a cliché and a truism, but the last 12 months have, again, been characterised by setbacks, challenges, opportunities and some successes for our sector.

We have witnessed the consequences of getting things wrong (or not resolving them quickly enough) and the impact that this has on communities, especially the most vulnerable.

More positively, we are also seeing the possibility of the sector being released from the shackles of centralisation and being given greater freedoms to work with our communities to help local places improve outcomes in the ways that they know best.