First, let me take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.
The seven months since becoming your Mayor have been busy with laying the foundations of our shared future success and achieving some encouraging progress.
These are exciting times for the West Midlands.
Our economy is improving, people are working together for the benefit of the region and Government is taking a greater role in our success than ever before.
And, already, we can see this emerging. Recently we received the brilliant news about Coventry winning City of Culture 2021. We hope soon to have it confirmed that Birmingham will be the host city for the Commonwealth Games in 2022. And right across the region, we are seeing exciting projects and developments underway, including major transport investment, new homes and jobs, which will help to improve people’s lives.
All of this is only possible because of the hard work of everybody involved. We have made a start, but I am very conscious of the huge challenges that face our region – but look forward to 2018 with ambition and optimism that will achieve much more together next year.
I hope you enjoy my Christmas message and it gives you a little taste of what life is like as Mayor of this fantastic region and some of the successes we are starting to enjoy.
Thank you,
Andy Street
Mayor of the West Midlands
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