Among the most important successes are the great strides we?ve made towards our target of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2028.

From pioneering the UK?s first wireless taxi scheme and powering the award-winning new Broad Marsh car park through 720 solar panels, to installing energy efficiency measures in hundreds of homes and expanding our segregated cycle lanes, we continue to be at the forefront of this vital work.

There?s also been good progress on and around Broad Marsh, with a third of the old shopping centre flattened, progress on the library, and the streets around the new car park and college buildings undergoing a huge transformation, along with services starting to run from the new bus station.

I?m proud that we celebrated 125 years of public ownership of Nottingham City Transport this year ? something that adds to our excellent transport network which is the envy of other cities.

Our ambitious council house building programme continued apace, with work started or completed on almost 400 homes including 36 apartments in Clifton.

Green spaces weren?t overlooked ? we carried out huge improvements to a number of play areas in our neighbourhood parks and significant restoration at Victoria Embankment Memorial Gardens.

It?s been a year for events to come back with a bang ? with a ten-day Goose Fair for the first time, the best-ever Winter Wonderland rated among the top three in the country, along with the celebrations for Nottingham Forest entering the Premier League and the Queen?s Platinum Jubilee ? as well as the city coming together to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth.

As ever, day in and day out, our council staff continue to provide vital services to local people, keeping our city clean, safe and looking after our most vulnerable people.

They have also helped, with the community & voluntary sector, to distribute fuel and grocery vouchers, welfare advice and other support for people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

We have embarked on a journey to becoming an accredited Child Friendly City, and this year saw the milestone of gifting 400,000 books to over 10,000 Nottingham children through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Work will get underway on the Green Heart of Broad Marsh while we wait to hear if our Levelling Up bid to Government has been successful for other aspects of the development, along with Bulwell town centre and the Island Quarter.

We will also see the new Central Library continue to take shape and open next year, as public realm improvements continue around the area.

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We will continue to see progress on the ?1.14bn Devolution deal we signed along with neighbouring councils which will provide more powers and funding from Government.

Watch this space for announcements on the eagerly-awaited new pedestrian and cycling bridge over the River Trent in the New Year ? and hopefully we will have some good news about Nottingham Castle too.

2023 will see another year-round calendar of events to look forward to with Light Night, Riverside, Goose Fair and Winter Wonderland.

There will also be plenty of activities for children in neighbourhoods across the city to provide free fun and food during the school holidays.

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