Debate has been raging in recent weeks about whether the public have begun to notice the impact of cuts to local government services, following a recent opinion poll which suggested they hadn't, and the prime minister's own intervention in his own local council's approach to budget constraints.

Much focus is placed on the big spending budgets of adult and children's services, ones that the public are often not regularly engaged with, ironically the services that they experience on a daily basis, like parks, public realm, refuse and leisure services are being eroded significantly.