I am sure you have seen the news coverage recently of the impending American presidential elections. For various reasons it has certainly engaged people, not just Americans, but those of us on the outside looking in.

Two strong characters like Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton have certainly got polarised views of how they would govern and their policies and personal backgrounds has been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny. The choice seems to be between Democrat or Republican.

I am delighted that in Copeland the public voted for me as an Independent when they chose an elected mayor. I value the fact that we are working with a rainbow coalition of Labour, Conservative and Independent as we all work together with our focus on service delivery to make Copeland a better place to live, work and visit.

Whether it is waste collection, planning, environmental health and a host of other services our members and staff work hard to deliver first-class services to you our residents and taxpayers.

The council has also been heavily involved in our response to the Moorside new nuclear consultation document which has been submitted. We are now also about to embark on yet another consultation of a nationally significant infrastructure project which is the National Grid proposals which affect the whole of the borough as they seek to install new network electric cabling which will plug into the Nugen new nuclear power plant at Moorside.

I am also acutely aware of the costs to Copeland of these consultations. We are a small district council and we are being asked complex questions and views regarding these projects, the burden in terms of time and resources are very onerous indeed. I have therefore written to government asking them for financial support as we wish to be effective in our deliberations and responses but at the same time be able to deliver first-class services.

The Boundary Commission has published its initial proposals which are to reduce the number of parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria from six to five. For Copeland this will have the effect of redrawing the boundary to extend from the town of Maryport in the north to the River Mite in the south. South of the River Mite will be transferred into Barrow and Furness Constituency. The consultation period ends on December 5 so please ensure that you get your views in before then. The proposals can be viewed in full at www.bce2018.org.uk and there is a link for you to have your say.