What is the role of a council chief executive? Most would say some combination of effectively running their organisation and place-shaping the locality. But this simple view pre-supposes some underlying conditions: enough resources of course, but also a council able to make rational decisions that deliver these outcomes.

The May local elections returned significant numbers of new councillors, including many single issue independents, and new single issue groups. In some places this was caused more by disaffection with local planning decisions than national issues such as Brexit.