We’re in danger of getting into something of a tangle about the different kinds of democracy we want. The old tried-and-tested representative version is thought by many to be creaking; the Power Commission a few years ago, and the more recent Councillors Commission have both produced ideas that might resuscitate the beast.

Others believe that society has changed beyond all recognition and that an internet-informed, educated public is no longer happy to limit its public engagement to the occasional visit to a ballot-box and hence the trend everywhere towards a more consultative democracy.

You can see both in last Friday’s Local Democracy, Economic development and Construction Bill that implements some of the proposals in July’s “Empowerment” White Paper.