All we want for Christmas is... a fair deal

Hello everyone, and I hope you're still able to enjoy some Christmas shopping despite the ever-rising cost of living.

Unfortunately, our Christmas wish letter to Santa appears to have gone missing. The Chancellor's recent statement had nothing about giving councils a fair funding deal, which would enable them to cope with the huge increase in demand for services used by the most vulnerable.

Instead, the message is this: if you need more money for social care, we'll allow you to put up the council tax and therefore saddle local residents with the bill.

Well, it is what it is. In the meantime, we have to find cuts of £29 million in next year's budget. Please take part in our consultation about this; Bury Council budget proposals 2023/24 (One Community Bury) - you'll be asked to set up a One Community account before you can access the page.

But it's not all gloom; far from it. We will not allow austerity to distract us from ensuring our borough strives for generations to come.

Our plans to regenerate our town centres - Prestwich, Radcliffe and Bury - are well under way. You will be hearing a lot more about this in the New Year, along with the Atom Valley/Northern Gateway proposals to bring thousands of skilled jobs to our area.

And we will continue to look after those who most need our help, ranging from providing free school meals over the holidays to helping disabled people and care leavers with their fuel costs.

You may have heard of our LET'S Do It! brand, which underpins all this. The LET'S stands for Local, Enterprise, Together and Strengths - and we'll need all these qualities to take our Bury where we want it to be.