Now the AV referendum result is out the way, let local government allow itself a pat on the back at the way it was handled.

While all the focus was on the result, we must not forget the hundreds of managers and council staff who worked to ensure that one of the biggest election days in years – AV, English locals, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, parishes – went off without a hitch. Considering the parliamentary go ahead to the referendum squeezed into legislation back in February hours before its deadline, giving local authorities just weeks to organise it, they did a sterling and, as ever, unsung job.