THE following is a New Year's message from Cllr Alex Collingwood, Leader of Wycombe District Council.

Despite the financial challenges that 2011 brought, it was another busy and productive year at Wycombe District Council as we continued to work hard to make the Council and the district economically fit for the future.

Wycombe District Council provides over 100 services for local people and businesses and my highlights from 2011 demonstrate not only the diversity of these services, but also our "3P" priorities for the next four years – people and communities, place and pounds.

The first six months of the year saw council tenants voting in favour of transferring their homes to Red Kite Community Housing, a local economic business summit and of course the reopening of Holywell Mead Pool. It also saw Wycombe District Council-run Skills Centre Bucks scooping a national contract to help get local people back in to work.

Locally, we also held district council elections in the first half of the year and it was in May that I was privileged to become the Leader of the Council.

In the second half of the year, Higginson Park won another Green Flag award, we asked you about the vision for the development of the district, we launched a campaign to insulate 500 homes through our subsidised insulation scheme and the Arts4Every1 Centre officially opened.

In October, I was particularly delighted to attend the Community Champion Awards, which celebrated the achievements of local community-minded individuals and organisations in the Wycombe district.

Most recently, of course, we have seen the transfer of our housing stock to Red Kite Community Housing, a new tenant-led housing association.

Through Red Kite, tenants will be in charge of their own destiny and will benefit from £105 million of additional investment in their homes.

In reality, this means 4,000 new bathrooms, 4,000 new kitchens and 3,000 new central heating systems and is great news for tenants and great news for the local economy, as contracts will be awarded to local businesses where possible.

While 2012 will bring its own challenges, there is still much to look forward to, including a certain big sporting event happening close by.

Economic regeneration will remain a priority and we’ll be sharing further proposals for the redevelopment of the Wycombe sports centre site, which includes a new sports centre and headquarter type offices to bring in new jobs, as well as our redevelopment plans for the Hughenden Quarter.

We'll also be working with one of our neighbouring authorities to share and reduce costs while improving our waste and recycling collections.

We hope to achieve all of this and more, while remaining committed to freezing our share of the council tax for 2012/13.

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2012.