It?s easy to look back at 2020 and wish you could forget the whole thing. Nobody could have predicted things would unfold in the way they did. Covid has shaped and shaken our lives this year, determined if and how businesses can operate, prevented us from seeing one another, going on holiday or at times even leaving the house. There?s no doubt it?s been a long, hard slog and, tragically, Covid has taken too many lives. We remain, as we approach the end of the year, unable to resume normality although the rollout of vaccines promises better things for 2021.

For now, however, Nottingham has been moved into Tier 4 ?Stay at Home? restrictions. This means we will all have to continue to pull together to reduce contact with others to keep people safe in our city. For the latest guidance on the Tier 4 restrictions in Nottingham please click here: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19/nottingham-covid-19-restrictions/.

It?s also been a tough year for the City Council, which has had to face up to the fact that some previous decisions, approaches to finances and ways of working were misguided and need to be stopped or changed. Our well-intentioned efforts to reduce fuel poverty through the creation of Robin Hood Energy has been costly to the people of Nottingham, and we will continue to respond to ? and learn from ? the criticisms of the recent Government inspection report. It?s a challenge we are up to and we?re determined to make things right. We have also seen the demise of intu and their plans for the Broadmarsh Centre, while the ongoing repair work to Clifton Bridge has caused huge disruption.

But to dismiss 2020 as all doom and gloom would be to ignore the enormous strength and spirit it has seen us find collectively. I said at the beginning of the crisis that in Nottingham, we had the resilience, compassion and tenacity to get through this together ? and that has proved to be the case. Communities have come together to help one another and our key workers have stepped up magnificently to keep vital services running or take on board new roles in the combat of coronavirus. Food and other essentials were delivered to vulnerable people, more carers were recruited, support was provided to struggling businesses, while teachers ? and parents ? heroically continued to educate our city?s children.

Despite the pandemic, we have also seen some great accomplishments in our city this year. Our carbon-neutral efforts have included the world?s first electric bin lorries taking to Nottingham?s streets, solar panels fitted to the roof of the new Broadmarsh car park and planting 8,500 trees, to name just a few. We have made great progress on the transformation of the city?s Southside, with a new college and car park rising up, a redeveloped castle attraction almost complete and work under way to radically change and improve the streets in between. We have begun a ?161m programme of Government-funded transport improvements to give people an even greater range of alternatives to the car ? with further measures introduced as part of our response to Covid.

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The disappointment of the Broadmarsh Centre?s redevelopment being stopped in its tracks by Covid has been replaced by a sense of unexpected opportunity. We are now in the unique position of having one of the most significant city centre development sites in the country to reshape and reimagine. The Big Conversation to invite ideas has generated more than 3,000 responses and in the New Year we will start to hone these into proposals for a site masterplan.

Broadmarsh is symbolic of Nottingham?s 2020 ? out of difficulty, together we can find a way forward. It gives me hope for the new year ahead when the Covid vaccination programme also promises something better for us all.