KEEPING homes warm enough – especially for the elderly – is often challenging.

The potential of rising fuel costs is ever present, chiefly because commodities such as oil are priced in dollars so the post-Brexit fall in the value of sterling means we are vulnerable to “importing” inflation.

Fuel poverty – where people on low incomes cannot always afford to heat their homes adequately – is something we should watch out for.

Safety on the roads is always a priority but in wintry conditions there are even greater risks.

Gloucestershire County Council has increased capacity to store and spread grit on our roads when ice is threatened but one recurring danger is slippery pavements so local councils should be thinking of strategies to make main streets safer for pedestrians.

Recently we saw a spate of cancellations of flights because of fog and there will be more such difficulties in the months to come.

The control of airspace – so vital for aeroplane safety – is becoming increasingly complicated as the need for both more controllers and airport capacity become apparent.

Key decisions such as the expansion of Heathrow are part of the wider policy arena and we can expect it to be more contested in the years ahead.

The Department of Transport is supporting a number of significant motorway improvement schemes – for example, part of the M5 is being upgraded – and several projects to help traffic flow and road safety are being finalised.

For our area, one of the most desired but also demanding in terms of design and implementation is the operation to completely reconfigure the Air Balloon roundabout (Gloucestershire MPs are working together to make sure this gets underway by 2020).