When created in 2010 the New Homes Bonus was seen as a clever way of encouraging an acceleration in the building of new homes, something that was reported to be at its lowest level since the 1920s.
At the same time the new coalition Government was embarking on its first round of cuts to the public finances - with the country around a trillion in debt and continuing to borrow billions of pounds each month.
With various government departments given measures of protection from these cuts, local government became very vulnerable – and those professionals at councils up and down the country know what has happened to our funding in the last five years.
Or do they?
