When you think of paragons of productivity and beacons of efficiency there are plenty of examples that might pop into your head.

Perhaps a steely Japanese bullet train, pulling into the station at the precise second it was scheduled. Or maybe a super fast German car production line, expertly assembling the very latest model to whizz around our streets.

What I promise will not come to mind, however, is the nimble nature of your local council. I know this because I myself am a local councillor.

I’m forever – rightly – getting it in the neck due to the often lackadaisical efforts of our local authority: from residents furious about potholes that have grown to the size of a moon crater through to those concerned dog poo bins are so overflowing they’re on the verge of creating a tsunami.

So to hear what could be on the cards for councils across the land is something that shouldn’t just upset people… it should enrage them and have them demanding a council tax refund.

In an under-the-radar decision, Angela Rayner has made it clear that she’s as determined as ever to keep her union overlords happy, as she’s made it all the more likely that council staff will be able to go down to working a four-day week – whilst being paid for five.

Yep, you read that right. As council tax across the country soars – and private sector businesses are struggling under the weight of Labour’s £25bn tax rise – she has now paved the way for the introduction of a four-day work week across the public sector after the Government quietly dropped its opposition to the implementation of such a policy at South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The Tories had rightly raged after the council trialled its no frills working week. But having continued its implementation past the trial’s end date in March this year Rayner – whose brief now includes councils – has decided not to reissue the disapproval notice previously served by the Conservatives.

A letter received by the Cambridgeshire authority on Friday, November 8, from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said that there would be “an end to micromanaging local authorities”.

Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of the Lib Dem council who has introduced the new four-day week for staff, said: “The results from our four-day week trial painted a really positive picture, with many of our services improving.

“This was along with the hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money we saved, improved recruitment and retention plus incredibly significant positives around health and wellbeing”.

Aye, I bet! My wellbeing would also soar should I be able to lounge on the sofa all day on my company’s buck. The unions were, of course, absolutely delighted – and are now lobbying for more of the same.

Getting stuff done as an elected council leader is a nigh impossible task. As the former deputy mayor of Middlesbrough I often felt like I was wading through treacle, such were the endless reasons from council staff about why we couldn’t enact anything from a simple resident request right up to an election vow.

Now that’s not to say that there aren’t very hard working staff at councils – because there are. But the organisations are just not run efficiently.

Why? Well firstly the top brass are not on performance related pay – and instead some seem positively unsackable. And then when their hand is finally forced for rubbish results, they’re waved off with a gobsmacking golden handshake.

With Angela Rayner at the helm the productivity of councils will now continue to struggle – and South Cambridgeshire certainly won’t be the last council to become a four-day-week convert.

The slackness will also continue to seep across the entire public sector. If you needed evidence, it’s now emerged that Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has offered Tube drivers a four-day week for the same pay in response to their latest strike threat.

Tube drivers – who by the way earn nearly £70,000 a year – currently work a five-day week. Their union Aslef called the proposal a “genuinely groundbreaking agreement” saying “in every four-week pay period, you will be working 10 hours and four days fewer” whilst their wage is also hiked.

I never lived through the 1970s but I do know that the Government then – also dancing to the tune of union demands – brought the UK to a total standstill, quite literally. Constant strikes meant trains ground to a halt, rubbish blocked the streets and the lights went out. All this kind of wimpy decision by Rayner does is show them exactly what they can get away with.

Well I have a proposition for readers. If your local council so much as breathes a whisper of this absolutely maddening approach, head to your town hall and hammer on the door until the senseless decision is reversed – or I can promise we’ll be heading for timewarp Britain before you know it.