A Council plan for the decongestion of the Ampthill Road Corridor in and out of Bedford has won the backing of the South East Midlands local enterprise partnership (SEMLEP). The £5.1 million scheme will now go forward to government amongst SEMLEP'S chosen projects under its bid for government funding for transport improvements.
Bedford Borough Council is hoping to ease congestion on Bedford's busy Ampthill Road with a bid for £5.1 million of funding to enable improvements to the road to be made.
Bedford Borough Council will pursue a plan to make greater use of digital technology to save £10 million per year. In a speech presenting the plans at a recent meeting of the Council's Executive, Mayor Dave Hodgson described the pursuit of a digital operating model as vital in order to prevent service cuts which would 'change the Council beyond all recognition'.
Mayor Dave Hodgson is joining forces with other Council leaders to demand a better service for beleaguered rail users on the Govia Thameslink and Great Northern routes. The group of Councils north of London, representing well over a million people, are calling on the Government to ensure Govia raises standards on behalf of passengers across the routes.
Mayor Dave Hodgson has announced a 'War on Weeds' to tackle the rapid weed growth which has taken place across the Borough on roads and pavements. Due to the amount of warm, wet weather this year, weeds have taken the opportunity for rapid growth. Over the next three weeks the whole of the Borough's highways will be sprayed with green-friendly weed killer spray. In addition, a Council Hit Squad will be sent out manually ripping weeds out of the ground.
In his column for the July edition of the Bedford Bulletin, Mayor Dave Hodgson wrote of his disgust at the plans to close maternity services at Bedford Hospital and to force the 3,000-plus mothers who give birth there every year to travel longer distances away from home and from family to Milton Keynes.