Firstly I would like to wish all of Wymondham a very Happy New Year and hope that 2023 is kind to you all.

It’s not been an easy few years for any of us but following the full council meeting on January 3rd, I am excited that Wymondham will soon benefit from a huge boost to its fortunes.

The unanimous agreement by councillors to allocate a further £200,000 to a regeneration project, which could see £1 million spent on the town centre with funds from South Norfolk district council, signals a new dawn for the town.

I feel very fortunate to be on the council at such an exciting crossroads and be able to play a small part in making Wymondham a better place for our children to grow up in and for us to live and work.

I have lots of my own ideas about improving car parking, the safety of pedestrians, signage (one of my biggest bugbears currently!), highlighting our historic assets, and generally brightening up the town centre and making it a real destination for shoppers and tourists.

But I do urge everyone to take part in the forthcoming consultation process because your thoughts and ideas really matter as you are the ones who will be using the town and at the end of the day it needs to be user-friendly. Whether you are young or old, resident or business owner, shopper, student or occasional visitor – your input is vital to the process.

On your next trip into town maybe take a few mental notes about what would make your visit easier, more enjoyable and what changes you would make, however drastic that may be, and let your councillors know. Collaboration is the key.

And talking of collaboration, what a wonderful event Wynterfest was again with so many businesses open, so many stalls showcasing their wares, and fantastic entertainment. It makes you realise what talented folk are out there doing some incredible work. Thank you to Wymondham Town Team for pulling it all together, we are extremely fortunate to have you working so tirelessly on behalf of the town.

I was especially delighted to see a beautiful Christmas tree in the market place, something I proposed to the council and we finally got the infrastructure in place to have it safely installed. Now I am on a new working group at the town council looking at Christmas Lights. At the last full council meeting we successfully proposed that the council buys all the lights throughout the town, with volunteers continuing their amazing work to install them, as the team so enjoys the community spirit of the task. I’m excited to see what we can come up with for next Christmas.