Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor, Leader of Wokingham Borough Council

SEVEN months ago, I had the enormous privilege of being elected Leader of Wokingham Borough Council.

It was my good fortune to take the helm amidst what the ancient Chinese curse called “interesting times”, locally and globally, internally and externally. This is not the occasion for a Brexit review, other than to note that our area is home to considerable inward investment and many leading technology and services businesses, with which our Council is engaging to ensure our area’s continued prosperity, as Britain prepares to leave the Single Market, the Customs Union and the other economic institutions of the European Union.

Locally we have had much to do around the Council, starting with changing the way we work, in order to deliver better services with even greater productivity.

Externally we have been forging ahead with the regeneration of Wokingham town centre, approved major renovations to our leisure centres, and fought to obtain more money for our area, particularly for this borough’s excellent schools.

We’re all looking forward to another busy year in 2018.

In the last several months as Leader I have tried to get out and about as much as possible, talking with as many local people as I can.

The Council cannot and will not always get everything right.

When things don’t go so well, we want to have a dialogue with you – explaining what’s going on and what we’re doing to improve matters; listening to you about your priorities and how you think we could do things differently.

As Christmas approaches, I would like to mention the numerous volunteers in our community who will be taking time away from their families over this festive period.

They work tirelessly in our community, particularly with some of our most vulnerable people.

This borough has always stood on the shoulders of these giants – they are true foundation stones.

On behalf of all councillors and council officers, I want to sincerely thank all of our incredible volunteers for everything they do to make Wokingham Borough a great place to live and work – as evidenced again last week in the Halifax Quality of Life survey.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.