Having spoken at and attended a number of packed fringes at all of the main party conferences recently, I couldn't help but reflect there is a reawakening by the political parties that many of the most pressing policy issues are best resolved at a local government level.

In order to understand the varying local circumstances, you really need to have boots on the ground. Local government can provide this. What it needs in return is for the UK central administrations to provide clarity and coherency in policy terms.