I am fortunate to have a fund of optimism in these cold, grey days of January. It comes from the significant progress which we have already made as a local authority in the last two years – and the promise of more to come in the year ahead.

The ground-breaking zero-carbon King Henry VIII school in Abergavenny encompassing, seamlessly, nursery, primary and secondary units, will open its doors in 2025.

The new Welsh medium school in Monmouth, Ysgol Gymraeg Trefynwy, is expanding, with plans to provide wrap around childcare for three- and four-year-olds.

In all our schools, we will be offering more locally grown ingredients in the free school meals we offer to every primary age pupil, reducing food-miles and supporting our farmers and food producers.

Children are also centre-stage as we continue to recruit still more foster carers and will open more of our own homes for children. This sits alongside our plans to deliver more affordable, temporary and supported housing and to convert empty properties, reducing the cost of B&B for those needing our support.

Our Replacement Local Development Plan sets out the sites where new, net-zero affordable and market homes will be built, connected to our towns by foot, cycle, bus and train. And we will be continuing our developmental approach with Monmouthshire’s towns working together to bring funds in to support regeneration.

Later in the year we are to become a County of Sanctuary, reinforcing the welcoming nature of our area for people rebuilding their lives here. And we have opened a more honest dialogue with our communities, finding helpful ways to collaborate and improving how we consult with residents.

Our roads have suffered from decades of under-investment and now we don’t have the money to improve matters as fast as I would like. But this year we expect to be carrying out some essential major projects, put off for years, as well as fixing potholes.

Even with the crippling effects of the past decade-and-a-half of cruel austerity, we have shown that a creative approach to the challenges of local government can yield amazing results. It’s not impossible if you are prepared to be a little bit more novel in your thinking, with councillors and officers on top of their brief.

So, despite having to parry what sometimes seems like opposition for the sake of it, our talented team are going into another calendar year full of determination to continue such a worthwhile agenda.