In this special episode of Our World is Local, Nick Kilby and Heather Jameson travelled to Birmingham's Council House to sit down with the leader of the council, John Cotton.

In 2023, Birmingham City Council issued two section 114 notices, an effective bankruptcy order meaning that a council can no longer meet its financial obligations. The root of the financial problems is an equal pay to the tune of £760m and an IT contract that ballooned in cost by £80m.