May 2015 heralded a number of changes – the beginning of summer, a new majority government and the start of a new relationship between two representative bodies; often seen as on opposite sides of the local government family.

Surprising, then, that the District Councils' and County Councils' Networks (DCN, CCN) have signed up to a Joint Statement of Intent, committing the two national networks to ‘encourage and support' their member authorities to ‘design and deliver devolution proposals (and) promote collaboration'.