Councillor Cath Homer is part of the Conservative cabinet at Northumberland County Council. As cabinet member for Arts, Leisure Culture, Tourism and voluntary services, her department plays a key role in delivering many of the services which the council provides that make a noticeable difference to people across the county. Here, Cath reports her experience of the cabinet since she took on the role:

I was honoured in May to be appointed to the role of Cabinet member for Arts, Leisure, Culture, Tourism and voluntary services, a hugely exciting portfolio within the county council that includes sports and leisure, libraries, tourism information, arts centres, play, museums and heritage, to name but a few. My area of work also includes a number of external organisations and I have recently been pleased to be appointed to the boards of Active Northumberland, Northumberland Tourism and Northumberland Sport.

Undoubtedly the council is facing a number of challenges across all the areas of it's work but I am pleased to confirm that we as an administration have given a commitment to arts, culture, leisure and tourism as we recognise the contribution these areas make towards healthier and more resilient communities and the huge role tourism and events have to make towards the economy of our beautiful county.

Since May I have been lucky enough to attend a number of exciting events like the Northumberland Schools Games where hundreds of young people from across the county competed in over 20 different sports. I also look forward to the Tour of Britain cycle race returning to the county on 4th September, and the opening of the Sill, The National Park Discovery Centre at Bardon Mill this weekend.

Where there are challenges come opportunities and I look forward to looking in detail at how culture, arts, leisure and tourism can be developed and sustained for years to come. As a committed volunteer in my home town I also appreciate the vital role that voluntary organisations play in our communities and I intend to develop this work further. A number of reviews are currently underway and I look forward to providing you with more updates in the months to  come.