It is the time of year when we look back at what we have achieved and look ahead to plans for the coming year. We started 2015 looking forward to an election, uncertain about what the outcome would be and what it meant for local government.

The only certainty was that there would be further cuts to contend with.To the surprise of everyone, including themselves, the Conservative Party won an outright majority at the election. This has given them the mandate to implement their manifesto commitments. This means more cuts to public spending, deeper for local government than any other part of the public sector. But it also means greater autonomy for local government both in terms of funding for local authorities shifting from national funding streams to local and in devolution deals.