When we look at events around the world over the past twelve months, saying that it has been an interesting year is certainly an understatement.

With the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union and a controversial new president elected for the world’s most powerful nation, the choices made by voters in 2016 will influence global economies and relationships for many years to come.

From a personal perspective it’s been a big year for me too, with my first year in the seat as leader of Stroud District Council.

From a local perspective, just like last year, despite continued pressures on council finances, the council ended the year with its highest satisfaction scores for over a decade, building on the highs of the previous year.

Whilst this was great news, there is of course no room for complacency, especially as the world enters a period of uncertainty.

However it is reassuring that we’re delivering services that our residents value, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank council staff for their hard work throughout the year.

One big change for every household has been the new food waste recycling service. I’m pleased to see that it has been embraced overwhelmingly by our district.

It will be the first Christmas when we can recycle our food waste and it’ll be really interesting to see how much recycling has gone up when we analyse the figures in the New Year.

This year also saw the opening of The Pulse in Dursley, with Dursley Pool being transformed into fully-fledged leisure centre open seven days a week.

Similarly it also gone down well with local community and is building on its reputation as a treasured local asset.

Speaking of things we treasure, I’m looking forward to spending Christmas with family and friends, but will be sparing a thought, as many of us will, for our armed services personnel posted overseas who are a long way from their loved ones.

Have a great Christmas and best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year...and don’t forget to recycle!