In some rural parts of East Yorkshire, there are villages which only see one bus a week while even getting a train to somewhere like Leeds is often impossible let alone travelling further afield.
It means a shift from a position where we think we know best, to supporting what is actually proven to work – and owned by the communities we support.
It may be the season of goodwill but many councils deserve a lump of coal after their misuse of public money.
It was a failed county. An abomination of the 1972 Local Government Act. Yet bureaucrats keep trying to revive it by stealth.
In Havering, we have saved £79 million over the past four years. Yet we have improved the lives of the people we serve.
The council is making great strides with our health and voluntary sector partners. But the barriers to innovation imposed centrally must be lifted.