A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting of the District Councils' All Party Parliamentary Group, chaired by MP Mark Pawsey, which focused on the relationship between local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and district councils. This was timely in light of the LEP review and in particular the recommendation that in future two thirds of the LEP board be made up of representatives from the private sector.

The discussion was lively and some robust arguments were made that as the planning and housing authorities responsible for driving growth, as well as leading their places, district councils absolutely must be properly represented on LEP boards. And that was before we even got round to the question of democratic legitimacy when it comes to spending what will be increasing sums of public money.