I’D like to wish all readers of The Mail a very happy new year.

2018 was a year of enormous progress here in Copeland. It began with the launch of the Copeland Pride of Place campaign in which we’ve been proud to highlight community and civic pride right throughout the borough.

From litter-picks, to beach-cleans, to dog-fouling poster campaigns, it’s been heartwarming to see schools, businesses, sports clubs, youth groups and more come together for the benefit of their borough and work alongside each other.

And it was fitting to round off the year with the West Cumbria Community Heroes Awards, in which the unsung heroes in our borough received much-deserved recognition.

Amid ongoing financial pressures that are being faced by local authorities across the country, I’m proud to say that Copeland Council continues to deliver first-class services for our residents.

From the launch of our new kerbside recycling scheme - which has seen rates more than double - to the Pride of Place regeneration project, which is seeing more than £1 million ploughed into businesses in towns and villages across the borough, we’re making a grassroots difference to the people we represent.

And we vow to continue to do this, ourselves and through our collaborative partnership working.

But a lot of what we do as a council flies under the radar however, in terms of our social inclusion programme which is assisting the most vulnerable people in our society every day.

Whether it be preventing homelessness, assisting those who are suffering domestic violence or funding digital or financial support projects, our social programme will always be at the top of our agenda.

But for all that we’ve achieved in 2018, there’s always work to do, and I’m looking forward to achieving more in 2019 with optimism.

It will be a year of change, and some political uncertainty no doubt, but from the transformational Whitehaven North Shore and Buzz Station plans in the north of the borough, to the revolutionary In-Harmony housing project in the south, Copeland’s progress will continue undeterred.