One of the main things that attracted me to Wyre, and one of the things which has made my job so interesting, is the area's diversity. Wyre has a relatively small population but covers a vast area, and the Borough is full of dramatic contrasts which present us with many challenges and opportunities.

As Head of the Engineering Services I was fortunate to have worked with some extremely talented and committed individuals on some of the area's most high profile engineering projects including the £20 million Cleveleys Coastal Defence Works. As an Engineer I have always had a tremendous sense of job satisfaction. Knowing that a public project has worked on so many levels; protecting the population and housing with new coastal defences; re-designing the promenade to the benefit of the local community, and at the same time improving tourism and regeneration; or simply the fact that your team's hard work will be around and utilised for many years to come. What a great job to have.

Now in my new role, an exciting journey is unfolding whereby my original Engineering teams comprising of Flood and Coastal Defence, Environmental Design and Car Parking are being integrated with a new council service - Streetscene.

This new service brings together a number of areas of expertise to tackle issues which local people feel most strongly about including fly tipping, graffiti, dog fouling, litter and recycling.

The Streetscene team will be very community-focussed, working in close partnership with the police, community support officers and other council services including car parking attendants. They will use multi-agency problem solving (MAPS) to assist in the enforcement against environmental crimes, to make Wyre a cleaner and greener place to live.

For me this is presenting a real challenge. Not only are we creating a new service unit, we shall be working in a completely different way, assisted by mobile communications technology to meet demand, tackling issues high on our community's agenda.

Working for a District Council provides opportunities for a much more hands on management approach. My new role presents many challenges, but it is my job to ensure we have the right staff, resources, and processes in place to meet the high expectations of our public. I know we'll achieve it.