AND so onto 2019, in just a few hours’ time.

The national picture looks as fragile as it has done for some time (perhaps since the start of 2018) and Brexit will dominate for many, many months yet.

But in Oxfordshire, we know much of what will need to be completed and what we can look forward to.

Critically, there will be more building in preparation for controversial expansion. All councils’ Local Plans – where they detail what big developments will go where – will need to be submitted for inspection as part of the £215m Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deals by April 1.

Admittedly, the topic is rather dry but it is critical for the county’s future. Councils’ Local Plans earmark nearly 100,000 new homes across Oxfordshire over the next decade and more. They are likely to change the nature of parts of the county and there are considerable pockets of opposition.

If councils get their way, the houses should be built along with accompanying infrastructure without any glitches. Some residents would like to see them stopped altogether.

In some parts of the county, development is far more controversial than in others. All councillors in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse are due for re-election in May.

But some of the pockets of opposition are rooted in those districts but we will have to wait a few months to see whether their electors are unhappy enough to get rid of them or want to keep them in.

The councils are dominated by the Conservatives. At Vale of White Horse District Councils there are 38 councillors, but 29 of those represent the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats hold the other nine seats there.

While in South Oxfordshire, 32 of the 36 councillors there are Conservatives. (It would have been one more had Tory Richard Pullen not resigned mid-term and the party lost the subsequent by-election to the Lib Dem Sue Cooper in June.) The Lib Dems hold two other seats, Labour one and the council is made up by one independent.

After a long wait, residents will also get chance to have their say on the Oxford-Cambridge expressway when consultation opens later this year.

People opposed or in favour will need to wait until the autumn – but the time will finally come. Highways England has said repeatedly people will get their say about the potential multi-billion pound road. But there has been no confirmed date for its start yet.

Elsewhere, Oxfordshire County Council’s budget, which will be passed in February, seems not to stir the controversy as previous years – although mental health groups are worried about the impact of £1.6m cuts over three years. Whether the council battles on with its intended budget will be seen in just a few weeks’ time.

The pace of its transformation plan recently seems to have slowed down a little – but it is still likely to be the year the council looks to implement a new way of working. Its Fit for the Future programme is expected to cost £18m.

In Oxford, new building works will change the face of the city centre. More work on Cornmarket Street will continue throughout the year, and the revamped Westgate Centre will have been open for just over two years by the end of 2019.

With retail analysts claiming it will take about three years for shopping habits in the city to settle to the changes that the reopening of the centre bought, that time will soon be upon us.

But predictions might be foolish if 2019 is as unpredictable as recent years.

If – and it must be a big if – the Conservative Government is replaced by a Labour, Jeremy Corbyn-led administration, projects like the Oxford-Cambridge expressway might be shelved.

But, all things considered, it is probably more likely Brexit will go ahead, Theresa May will see the project over the line and her replacement is appointed Prime Minister.

Yet with all she's said in the past (pledging not to call a general election and then calling one), maybe there will be an election by February, with her leading the Conservative Party into it; maybe Brexit will be cancelled.

We will have to hold on together and see...