We won the election in May 2011 with a huge majority of votes; we put up councillors of a wide variety of ages and interests in order to represent Henley as best as possible; we are working well as a team and will continue to do so for the rest of the 4 year term; we elected Pam Phillips as Mayor who was integral at the very start of HRG and this has helped keep the HRG core values alive.

Finance - we are continuing to keep council taxes below inflation by increasing income and cutting waste. We are raising council tax by a very moderate 1.7% at a time of 5% inflation - the equivalent of £1.32 for the year. Henley's council tax is excellent value - Thame, Didcot, Wallingford and Abingdon all charge significantly more. Our investments continue to rise, generating a return of 4% last year despite the worldwide economic difficulties. This compares very favourably with SODC who have only achieved a 1.8% return on their much larger investments. We run the Town Council finances prudently, increasing services while keeping costs down. This is despite being regularly forced to use council tax payers' money to fill the gaps left by District and County Council spending cuts.

Planning - we have been working hard to maintain the character of Henley through careful consideration of each planning application and by representing our refusals at SODC; we have introduced tighter control of A-Boards by working with businesses; we have made sure the housing intended for Henley by Government through the Core Strategy is kept at 400 rather than the 1500 originally suggested; we keep well informed and up to date about current plans for the Core Strategy; we continue to push for affordable housing wherever possible; we keep ourselves aware of ongoing proposals for developments in and around Henley and ask necessary questions of potential developers.

Town & Community - we have kept the Youth Centre open with the help of a £10k grant from the Town Council - this would have closed due to Oxfordshire County Council cuts; we are supporting the Henley International Film Festival; HRG initiated Henley in Bloom and has won the Town category again, restored the Sensory Garden at Mill Meadows, started the Pride in Your Place Street competition and run the Gardens, Pub and Restaurant floral competitions; we have introduced new town centre recycling bins; initiated a scheme to use probation service workers to keep our town looking good; we have installed new bus shelters; kept up pressure on Oxfordshire County Council to maintain roads - in particular potholes; we have heard from residents in several areas of Henley about the desperate need for crossings which OCC say they cannot fund and we are pushing hard to find funding for two crossings currently; and we are working with the police to improve the Illegal parking which is a great problem in Henley; we are continuing to support local business through connections with the recently relaunched Henley Partnership; we have introduced the use of the Town Hall for weddings; and we are working closely with council staff to improve it's website and communication with the community.

Recreation & Amenities - we have enabled the replacement of the 15 year old astroturf pitch at the Outdoor Sports Centre by Tesco - it's now suitable for premier league hockey as well as recreational football - we made applications for grants to various organisations including the SODC Community Investment Fund - despite all these applications being refused, we went ahead and found the money to fund this important community facility from Town Council funds; we havesupported the establishment of the George Orwell Centre at the cemetery; we funded the establishment of new plots at Waterman's specially designed for people new to allotment holding; we have leased part of the 40 acre field behind Valley Road to the Sue Ryder charity to plant memorial trees and another part to Henley in Transition as the initial Henley Forest and food wood; we are working with partners on jubilee and olympic planning; and we are supporting the Henley Skate Park Initiative.

Townlands
The new Townlands is on track to open in 2013. The most important issue for Henley over the last 10 years has been Townlands hospital. HRG set up the Townlands Steering Group to protect our services and ensure they were redeveloped so that Townlands is secure for the long term. At last the Primary Care Trust have received real proposals for our new hospital. The PCT will award the contract to a developer in March 2012 and building looks certain to start later in 2012. We really can look forward to a new Townlands reopening in 2013. We'll also be getting a new nursing home, new premises for Sue Ryder, and Extracare housing. We will also get more services provided from Royal Berks. This is an excellent result for Henley, and a tribute to the support of the town and for the vision and hard work of HRG members on this critical issue.