The Localism Act has not been backed up by the resources it needs, according to the civil servant in charge at the time of its implementation.

Lord Kerslake, who was the senior Whitehall mandarin in then Department for Communities and Local Government, which led on the Act, and was head of the Civil Service at the time of the so-called devolution revolution, said: 'The Localism Act was well intended but accompanied by a gruelling austerity programme and has not been backed up by the resources it needed.