New 'whole place' community budget pilot authorities have begun the New Year with ambitious plans to experiment in shared local budgets.

Cheshire West and Chester Council chief executive Steve Robinson told a meeting of 150 of his top managers that being a pilot would 'put us at the vanguard of organisations, the best in the UK, that are involved in fundamentally changing the way in which public services are delivered, not just councils, but health, police, fire – indeed everything that is funded from the public purse.'