It would have cost us all, in the region of £80 million to implement the government’s model of LGR imposed on us. That was bad enough, but the delivery of services would have cost more and probably been worse. Good riddance; common sense has prevailed.

It has been frustrating as a new administration with new priorities and ambitions, to have to waste the best part of a year on central government folly.

From the start, across the whole council, we prioritised children. That focus is paying dividends. Following consecutive failing Ofsted reports, there are now glowing monitoring letters and children commissioner reports reflecting the hard work, passion and dedication across the authority. We are expecting another full Ofsted inspection next Autumn. This will give us the full picture on how far we have come and what more we need to do. I know we are still failing some families, and this has got to stop. Every child matters to us, and they deserve the best.

We’ve also had some good news from our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) team. I’m not going to pretend everything’s good and I know from my inbox the number of families that feel desperately let down. We will be honest about our failings and face the challenge head on. Everything is moving in the right direction, I only wish it could all be solved overnight. I should take this opportunity to thank government for honouring their pledge to help with our massive SEND debt. Happy to give credit where credit’s due.

Potholes and road maintenance continue to be the number one issue for local residents and communities. Our first budget this year earmarked record amounts for potholes. We also agreed to borrow up to £14 million to invest in preventative works around both roads and drainage. Then, with a year-end surplus due to tight financial control, we are spending an extra £4 million on pothole hit squads. Residents are rightly impatient to see improvements, and I hope this extra investment is beginning to show. To be honest there has been a managed decline of our road network in Devon over recent years. We are determined to halt that decline and, weather permitting, residents will start to see a real improvement.

My colleague councillor Dan Thomas also instigated a pothole pilot. This consisted of repairing all potholes in an area, not just the one that reached the safety defect criteria. You have told us how annoying it was to see a team repair individual potholes only to return a week or so later to repair the rest. We share that frustration and hope to roll out the pilot for the rest of Devon. Seems like common sense to us. I’d also like to thank another colleague, councillor Louise Wainwright. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the expansion and support of the road warden scheme has allowed communities to help themselves by mending their own potholes on the more rural roads.

As local councillors we are best placed to understand and react to local residents’ hopes and fears. It’s frustrating when Westminster and Whitehall start telling us what people want and how we should solve it. If we, as elected councillors, fail to listen and then prioritise the wrong issues, we can be removed. Local government is far from perfect, but when it comes to reorganisation, central government needs to look a bit closer to home.