It was the great singer Paul Simon who once referred to being judged by ‘a jury of my peers.' It was good enough for him but not it seems for many local authorities who seem reluctant to have their peers tramping through their civic centres.

Over the last year just 115 corporate peer reviews were delivered in England of which districts made up just 20% despite their numerical superiority. Some councils have never had a peer challenge in the seven years since the Local Government Association made the offer even though the LGA recommends every council has a peer review every five years. Councils argue the reviews are voluntary so they can ignore them or that they should only apply to failing authorities, presumably those that have already been judged by inspectorates, which rather defeats the object.