When you put yourself forward for public service, you do so because you want to do the best you can for the town in which you live.

As someone who is Swindon born and bred, I am proud of our town and the opportunities it has given me.

It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to represent and serve residents. It also means that you have to make some difficult decisions.

One of the most important decisions we have to make is deciding the budget for the coming financial year. This includes setting council tax.

As a council we provide well over a 100 distinct services. These range from everything from waste collections to ensuring we have sufficient school places.

Our most important responsibility is to look after vulnerable adults and children.

Last year 988 adults were given daily help to live independently and comfortably at home, 1,600 people were supported to return home from hospital and 888 residential or nursing care placements were provided for adults who could no longer live by themselves.

We have invested significantly in our services for vulnerable children and we are extremely proud of our dedicated social work team who help in extremely challenging circumstances.

We were especially pleased that their professionalism was recognised by a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating last year.

But what this does mean is that most people do not directly receive the services on which the majority of their council tax is spent.

As a council we have had to deal with reduced government funding (as part of the government policy to reduce the national deficit) alongside increased costs pressures (as more people continue to live longer with more complex health conditions).

As a result, we need to ensure that support services are in place while keeping council tax at as fair and affordable a level as possible.

Indeed, our council tax still compares favourably to other authorities. However, the need to maintain and invest in services does mean that we do need to increase council tax by 3.99 per cent this year.

I don’t expect anyone to be happy about being asked to pay more tax, but I can only assure residents that we are prioritising those most in need.

There is still much to be positive about. We continue to have a high-performing economy with high levels of employment, and Swindon is a popular place for people to live.

We have secured more than £130 million of government funding for investment in infrastructure and we are taking important steps forward in the regeneration of our town centre.

We will continue work hard to ensure that we get the best possible results for residents.