The respected international think tank the OECD said earlier this month that the UK's growth was "firming". In international finance, such moderate praise is cause for celebration. This turnabout in the

UK economy was not driven solely by the high profile resurgence of the financial sector or the dense clumps of service sector jobs in the Core Cities.  Rather it is are kindling of growth in the cities, towns, villages and parishes right across the UK that is securing the economy's future. It is an achievement of which CCN members, both county and county unitary, can feel rightly proud.