Looking back at 2023, who would have thought that just six months after forming our council's minority administration we could have achieved so much?
Thanks to the hard work of our cabinet, councillors and council officers and to the invaluable support of members in council, we have successfully managed our way through this first challenging period.
We've ensured and will continue to sustain sound and responsible control of council finances
We've laid the ground work for reassuming direct and local control of our own council services
We've begun to make good our promises on net zero by replacing our old diesel fleet of waste vehicles with clean electric waste vehicles.
We've introduced an Ethical Investment Policy and are looking at how and when to switch from investments which are currently tied up with fossil fuels to ones that support progress to net zero
We're putting solar PV on the council's commercial buildings and helping to build community energy schemes
We're committed to protecting and enhancing biodiversity, working with the county council and providing support for our parishes
We're working ever more closely with our business community to help build our local economy
And we've a new Council Plan in place which sets our sights for a cleaner, greener and fairer Forest community.
We wish our members, friends and colleagues all the very best for 2024.
