With feelings of elation, a small slice of disbelief and a large portion of relief, I’m immensely proud to announce that Midlands Road Safety is 1 today! There have been so many moments that required a good deal of reflection in 2020 and this time of year always provides them personally, but after 12 months of running a small independent consultancy, I wanted to take a moment to consider just what the last year has meant for Midlands Road Safety and myself. When starting a business there are a wealth of information sources that’ll advise you on some of the more commonly occurring pitfalls to avoid, especially in those first, testing 12 months. That initial trepidation – is this the right thing, the right time, the right service to how well do I really know the industry, how many contacts do I have and is there genuinely enough work out there to sustain a new start-up? Then, as things are starting to get established someone throws ‘global pandemic’ in to the mix – that wasn’t in any of the books! It turns out that what I already thought was true all along – the Road Safety and wider highway and development engineering industry really is a strong community. I’ve been able to draw on the expertise of so many in the industry – former colleagues, clients as well as friends, family and other small business owners in the last 12 months who have been more than willing to share their experiences and ‘top tips’. Their advice has really helped develop and refine the MRS offering as well as kept me personally grounded and focused. Over the last year MRS has delivered work for over 20 clients at sites across 30 plus counties in the UK, as well as providing road safety support for a local authority. I’m thankful to each and every one of our clients for providing opportunities to the ‘new kid on the block’. I’m also incredibly grateful to the small team of colleagues who’ve helped to deliver all of the work! Their professionalism and expertise have allowed the business to be flexible and extremely responsive to the needs of our clients and once the current ‘Covidian’ restrictions are a distant memory I’m looking forward to the chance to celebrate this anniversary with them properly. In the next 12 months I’m really looking forward to seeing how the changing face of transportation continues to develop. At the start of the year there was much excitement as large infrastructure projects featured so heavily in the early budget. Whilst many are progressing, it’s been great to see the spotlight turn to sustainable transport schemes with ‘pop-up’ cycling and walking facilities and the release of LTN1/20 providing a much-needed update to how we provide a robust, connected cycling network. More recently it has also been good to see the CIHT SoRSA Road Safety Audit Guidelines 2020 published, helping to clarify the Road Safety Audit processes for those involved in delivering and commissioning audits. Of course, I am also hopeful that we can build on Year 1 from a business perspective as well and I'm excited to do so. Road Safety is a passion – it’s an industry that perhaps doesn’t get the attention that it deserves in the national psyche and, given the chaos of 2020, it's understandable this year. But moving forwards I hope that MRS can play a part in promoting and delivering a safer road network and better, more cohesively designed and delivered schemes as a result of the input that we can have on the projects we're involved with. I will end on one more thank you – to everyone who’s supported the business in whatever way. I am more grateful than I can truly express.