Local government, as we know it, was established in 1067 when the City of London Corporation received its first Royal Charter, formally recognising a body dating back to at least Edward the Confessor. However, in the 951 years since it has never been agreed what local government should do, how it should do it, its structure and how it should be funded or that consensus implemented.

We have had reforms, partial reorganisations and numerous changes in funding and taxation. However, we have never had those fundamental questions answered simultaneously and implemented across the country. Often, local government is viewed through the prism of austerity, but that is a grave error.