January heralds the start of a new year and is always a time for new beginnings. For the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), this new year sees the arrival of a new president, South Tyneside MBC chief executive Martin Swales.

‘I feel honoured to have been nominated by my colleagues,' Martin tells The MJ. ‘I look forward to representing colleagues and the sector as a whole. I feel a strong sense of responsibility that I will be representing SOLACE into the next decade, for both myself and the SOLACE spokespeople.'