2006 stands to be a year of real progress for Stockton. Recent achievements have done much to improve the fortunes of the area and its people.
We have seen record education results, employment steadily increase and crime figures fall.
We have completed key infrastructure developments and, with local people, we have set ground-0-breaking regeneration projects under way.
Now we are capitalising on these foundations to drive forward the regeneration not just of Stockton but the wider Tees Valley area, working with our partners to deliver good services, tackle disadvantage and promote achievement as we continue to dismantle the barriers to a better quality of life for local people.
Paving the way is the Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative, which will place Stockton at the heart of the Tees Valley City Region, making the area more attractive to employers, supporting local businesses and developing a culture of success.
Our revitalised town centres and developments such as North Shore and the major improvements at the airport are enabling us to develop the infrastructure and environment fit for a city region - each is crucial to rejuvenating our borough's economic prosperity.
We are opening new opportunities for work, learning and living. Stockton's newly-created Children's Trust in particular will help build on our successes and continue improving the life chances of children and young people.
But it's people that matter most and communities are becoming more positively engaged in their future.
Thousands of council homes are being improved and new homes for the 21st century are taking the place of old housing in Parkfield, Hardwick and Mandale.
Likewise, better health, safer communities, improved transport, cultural activities - all are fundamental to making Stockton borough a better place in which to live.
And if anyone is looking for a visual sign of how far we have come, who would have believed just a few years ago that Stockton would be rivalling Oxford and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as a national Britain in Bloom finalist?
We have much to be proud of, much has been done and there's much still to do but we are gaining an unstoppable momentum.
Email Tees Pride at the Evening Gazette, or phone Karen McLauchlan, Deputy Business Editor on 01642 234651. Write to: Tees Pride, Evening Gazette, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3AZ.
Email Tees Pride at the Evening Gazette, or phone Karen McLauchlan, Deputy Business Editor on: 01642 234651 Write to: Tees Pride, Evening Gazette, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3AZ
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