Financial pressures facing local authorities have become more acute during this last year. As well as some declaring a form of bankruptcy by the issuing a 114 Notice, there have been media reports of some local authorities making requests to the government, to seek legal permission to raise their council tax by over the maximum 5% that is allowed. Thankfully that isn’t happening here, but that isn’t to say that we don’t have our challenges as it becomes harder to provide services at a reasonable cost.