ON BEHALF of West Oxfordshire District Council, I would like to wish Witney Gazette readers a very Merry Christmas.

The festive season is a time to reflect on the year gone by, as well as looking at our hopes and aspirations for the future.

Despite difficult economic times, there have been many positive signs of recovery with continuing low unemployment and busy high streets.

Many businesses and retailers have expanded or moved to the district, which is an indicator of their confidence in our local economy. We should feel reassured by this.

The Morrisons superstore in Carterton opened at the end of last month, creating about 200 jobs, and Noble Foods is expanding its egg distribution centre in Standlake creating about 180 jobs next year.

Our tourism industry remains strong, bringing over £260m into our local economy annually and employing around 4,800 people in our district.

A new Downton Abbey tour is starting soon – this will bring additional overseas and domestic tourists from London to visit and explore local locations featured in the television series.

We remain committed to providing free parking in our town centres, as this supports residents and retailers as well as being a huge attraction for shoppers and visitors to our towns.

Local government continues to face extreme financial pressures but we have been working hard safeguarding frontline services that matter most to local people and providing financial support wherever possible to voluntary organisations that support our district and residents.

Much of this has been achieved through our efficiency savings programme which includes joint working arrangements with Cotswold District Council and others.

As well as protecting services, our efficiency programme has allowed us to deliver improvements wherever possible.

We are currently considering allocating up to £1.6m to extend high-speed broadband coverage to reach as many businesses and residents as possible across rural West Oxfordshire.

This investment would boost the coverage already outlined in Oxfordshire County Council’s Better Broadband project.

Work to determine the timescales and additional coverage required is already under way and it is hoped the results will be known in the spring.

Many residents prefer to contact us online so we have recently made changes to our website and are continuing to improve our online services.

As well as providing more functionality, it is hoped the new-look site will encourage more users, thus further saving money.

The new Strategic Housing Market Assessment for Oxfordshire is expected to be completed early in the new year and will form part of our Local Plan evidence base – providing an assessment of the amount and type of new housing that is needed in each district up to 2031.

At this stage we do not know what impact this will have on our housing target. With this in mind we may need to consult on our Local Plan again next year.

We will know more once the assessment has been published. However, we will keep working to encourage the provision of more affordable homes to enable local people to stay living in the place we love, while ensuring future developments enhance the district and its distinct character.

Early next year, we will set our budget for 2014-15 and our aim is to once again freeze council tax to the benefit of residents and remain one of the lowest district council charging authorities in the country.

I wish everyone an enjoyable Christmas and extend all good wishes for the new year.

Barry Norton