The end of last year saw, once again, a brilliant display of Christmas Lights in the Town, a fantastic Santa Parade and a well-attended and exciting Mistletoe Festival.

Thank you to the Chamber of Trade and the Mistletoe Association, respectively, who organised it all.

Within 48 hours of the lights switch on, I was contacted by a member of the Talgarth Town Council, who had seen our lights and now want lights “just like them” in their town, next Christmas.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The construction of the new overflow car park on Palmers Meadow is well underway and will provide an extra 65 parking spaces in the town, to use at times of high demand.

Recently, due to many factors, construction of the above, the Tesco development, gas works, electrical works and diversions due to the Eastham Bridge works, parking in the town has been restricted and through traffic slowed down at peak times.

Thank you to the vast, vast majority of the public and traders who appreciate this is only temporary and at the end of it the town will benefit.

There are three public consultations taking place at the moment that I would encourage and urge you to look at and respond to.

Malvern Hills District Council has one on Public Space Protection Orders across the district. These have replaced what many of us would refer to as Bylaws.

Introduction of these orders would give far more power to deal with the issue of dog fouling committed by a very small percentage of dog owners in the town.

Please have your say on this, particularly all you responsible dog owners.

The NHS has two public consultations in progress. I urge you to have your say. You can access both via NHS Worcestershire websites.