I HOPE you all had an enjoyable Christmas and were able to celebrate with family and friends in a Covid-safe way.

I don’t know about you, but Christmas always seems to go in a flash and I think it has been exacerbated this year with everything that is going on with the virus.

Sadly, Covid-19 is not going anywhere and we all have a responsibility to make sure we minimise its impact as we head into 2022 by following all the relevant guidance to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

Fortunately, we have seen a great response to the booster programme and I would like to thank all our NHS colleagues and our superb volunteers at STEAM who worked through the festive period to continue the vaccination push.

The last two years have been particularly difficult for all of us and the pandemic has brought many challenges, but I am optimistic for the coming year.

We have a lot to look forward to and a lot to be proud of. I was absolutely thrilled to recently learn that, through the Swindon Towns Fund Board, we had been successful in our bid to the Government for £11m in funding for two important regeneration projects.

On the face of it, the £6m allocated to the Kimmerfields development, next to the new Zurich building, may not seem that exciting.

But putting in utility cables and pipes, building access roads and improving the landscaping and public realm on the 20-acre brownfield site is absolutely crucial to attracting the private investment which will deliver jobs, top quality offices, 450 homes and, ultimately, our new Cultural Quarter.

Without the investment from the council and the government in making the site ready for development, this large site would remain vacant for many more years because it just isn’t financially viable with land values being so low in our town centre.

The £5m from the Towns Fund for rejuvenating four units of Brunel’s Grade II-listed Carriage Works is a similar situation. These Victorian sheds had been lying empty for many years and were too costly to be brought back into use by the private sector.

Now we have the funding we can build on the work we have already done in creating a business incubation centre and the recently-opened Cultural Heritage Institute, by creating a hub for the town’s growing creative and digital SME sector.

This will ensure we can re-use an important heritage asset, generate an income for the council and boost the local economy with creation of jobs and increasing footfall in the area.

You will have seen that work is also continuing to progress on the new Zurich offices and, later in the year, we will begin to see the start of work on the new Fleming Way Bus Boulevard, which will provide a much-improved bus interchange and transport links and act as a catalyst for future investment in the wider town centre.

There is much work still to do over the next 12 months, but these building blocks are important if we are to build a successful future for our town.