Districts come in all shapes and sizes. They can be large rural, large single urban, and smaller rural.
Several comprise small towns, or are coastal. And many have a vast number of parishes.
For chief executives, districts show many other characteristics. We are usually closer to ‘the action', know all our managers personally, work closely with councillors, and are very visible in our communities – which can have benefits, but also drawbacks.
We also have limited resources, so much use is made of all our staff, who rise to the challenges faced to meet the public's, the Government's and local agendas.
Besides dealing with the White Paper, performance pressures, new licensing powers, decriminalised parking, et al, in the case of Ipswich, we have recently moved into a new headquarters, opened a successful ‘state-of-the-art' customer service centre, obtained Growth Point Status, and helping deliver a new university, a new further education college and having one of the most challenging growth rates in the UK.
However, all this seemed unimportant when our community was hit by the traumatic events of December – when Ipswich found itself at the centre of a major murder inquiry – which completely altered our priorities.
Nothing can prepare staff for such unexpected events, many of which, it transpired, took place near our offices. And yet, the community,  police, councillors, staff, local media and other partners all rose magnificently to the challenge.
As police said at the time, this was very much a ‘Team Ipswich' approach, which built on all the social work which had gone on for years.
As someone who grew up in the town, I have never been so affected, but I am also proud of our community in how its members are dealing with events which put Ipswich on the world map for all the wrong reasons. Ipswich will fight back.
Finally I would like to thank those friends and colleagues who sent messages of support. This was much appreciated.
James Hehir is chief executive of Ipswich BC