It is easy to be cynical and grumble about the things we do not like about our community, the council, or the government. It sometimes feels as if this is one of Britain’s national sports!

Many of our gripes are fair comments and sometimes it can feel as though there is a lot to grumble about.

If we want to make North Somerset a better place to live, learn, work, and play then we need to tackle the problems head-on and be honest about them.
But we should also try to remember that, despite how we might all feel sometimes, good things are happening every day.

Council teams fill the equivalent of more than 300 potholes every week across North Somerset to help keep our roads and pavements in good condition.

Every day our waste and recycling crews are on the streets collecting thousands of tonnes of material and, with residents’ engagement, helping us achieve one of the highest recycling rates in England.

Seven days a week, all through the year, hundreds of the most vulnerable people receive community meals delivered to their homes – and get a welfare check into the bargain.

Our children’s services teams are supporting hundreds of children in care and children in need every day to help them make the most of their lives.

Our events and economic development teams are working every day to support community events, businesses, and job creation.

Council staff work with landlords, housing associations, and developers alike to tackle the housing crisis and provide more affordable accommodation for local people.

We have established a cost-of-living task force to provide targeted help so that people struggling with rising costs can get the assistance they need.
Council teams have paid out around £10 million in energy rebates already in the past few weeks.

Against this backdrop, our planners and climate change experts are working to deliver long-term solutions to big challenges about how to grow sustainably in the future.

We’re planting new trees, encouraging biodiversity, and trying to protect important sites from overdevelopment.

Away from the everyday services, there are lots of bigger projects being worked on too.

Nailsea and Clevedon library buildings are receiving investment and improvements. In Clevedon, as part of a £250,000 scheme to improve the building, and in Nailsea to secure a new location for the library and provide investment to create a better space.

Leisure improvements have included over £1 million invested across our leisure centres in Portishead, Nailsea, and Clevedon to help maintain these sites in good condition.

In Weston, work to get the popular Marine Lake cleaned up and back open has been completed and we are now commencing improvements to neglected Victorian shelters on the seafront and looking to do more to make our open spaces greener and cleaner.

We’ve also good the world-first See Monster attraction opening at Tropicana soon.

Working together with town and parish councils, voluntary and community groups, and a range of business partners, North Somerset has an incredible force of people that are focussed on getting things done.

We do not get everything right, of course, or have the money or powers we need to do everything that we want. But good things are happening every day to make North Somerset a better place.

Councillor Steve Bridger, Leader of North Somerset Council
Councillor Mike Bell, Deputy Leader of North Somerset Council