Taking the last two, Somerset has a population of about half a million over 1,600 square miles, while Dudley has about one-third of a million people in only 35 square miles - much more densely packed and with a very different demography. The local geography had a major effect on the ways these two local authorities delivered services of all sorts.
Sometimes, though, it's worth thinking about other places and the very different challenges they face. My boss in Somerset had a picture on his office wall of a school in Namibia crowded with children, with a corrugated roof and no walls. At the time we were making the case for Somerset schools being underfunded, and indeed they were, compared to other local authorities in England, but making the comparison with Namibia was a salutary experience.
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