Bedford
Liberal Democrats

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Dave Hodgson tells BBC Look East about the St Mary's Street works

St Mary's Street Works - Update

We're now in week three of the major roadworks to completely reconstruct St Mary's Street in Bedford. As I've written on here before, these emergency works are required after a survey showed the road to be in danger of collapsing. This was despite the fact that the road had been resurfaced just four years ago by the former County Council, which sadly failed to put drainage in place. The road is therefore having to be completely rebuilt, with the eight-week project beginning on October 3rd. The works are inevitably causing disruption to people, and we are all anxious for the project to be completed on time and to a high standard, in order that it doesn't have to be dug up again in the foreseeable future. I am pleased to report that the works are going well and despite the gas leak which caused the road to be closed completely for a few hours and stopped the work for a short while, it is on schedule so far. I must add that, while the works are causing some disruption, traffic is moving and you can get in and ar

17 Oct 2011
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Mayor Dave Hodgson talks to local residents during the 2012 Village Tour

Village Tour - My Thanks to All Who Came Out to Talk

The Village Tour 2012, or '60 in 30,' is now over, and I want to thank everyone who came out to speak to me at the 60 mobile surgeries across 60 villages in September's 30 days. The fact that so many residents talked to me to share their views on the important matters for our communities was very much appreciated, as was the welcome I received. A variety of weather conditions were experienced, and I am particularly grateful to those who braved wet and windy evenings or sweltering afternoons (we had both of these extremes, and plenty in between!) in the cause of taking the opportunity to talk to me directly while I was in the neighbourhood.

7 Oct 2011
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Mayor Dave Hodgson with Jo Dring of Charles Wells Ltd and Staff at the Fox and Hounds, Riseley

Pints in the Parishes is Back - New Schedule of Dates

Having written on here recently that 'Pints in the Parishes' is re-starting soon, I can now confirm a full, new schedule of these events at local village pubs around the Borough. I wrote out to all Parish Councils in July, asking if they would like to nominate a local pub which might be a suitable venue for me to visit one evening and give local residents the chance to talk to me directly about any issues they want to raise, in an informal environment. Once again I got an excellent response from the Parish Councils, and I must thank them for their suggestions. I then drew pub names out of a hat, after at first restricting the initial draw to those villages in which I have not yet held a Pints in the Parishes session. I then contacted the pubs to check that they are happy to have me, and can now confirm the full list of new dates and venues. Please have a look and see if I'm coming your way at all. It's always great to be able to talk to a good number of people and gather views on the issues of importance for

30 Sep 2011
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Dave Hodgson on the track at Bedford Athletics Stadium

Olympic Festival Fun For All!

Tomorrow the Council will be submitting a bid to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) for the Bedford International Athletics Stadium to be granted the status of an 'Olympics Live Site' next summer. If successful, this will see us awarded a grant of £7,500 and will enable us to stage a free fun-filled festival of sport at the stadium during the Olympics, featuring a big screen showing all the action live, including the men's 100 metre final, and opportunities to have a go on the top class facilities on offer, especially for young people.

29 Sep 2011
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Surveillance Watchdog's Verdict on our Reforms to Council's 'Snooping' Powers

I wrote on here some months ago about reforms we've introduced to restrict the Council's ability to spy on local residents, and to ensure that it is accountable publicly for each and every use of the powers it has to conduct surveillance. The main features of the reforms were the restriction of the abilitiy to authorise the use of the powers to only the most senior officers (shortening the list of authorising officers considerably), and the introduction of a new requirement that every use of the powers by the Council must be reported to the public meetings of the Council's Executive four times a year. For the first time this has ensured public oversight of the Council's use of these powers, which have been dubbed a 'snooper's charter' for Councils after several instances of their excessive and unjustified use elsewhere. These have included the case of a council spying on parents incorrectly suspected of using a false address to get their child into a preferred school and numerous cases of councils spying on t

27 Sep 2011
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Dave Hodgson paints railings at a Rivercare event by the river near Aspects and the Embankment

Real Community Spirit on Show at Final Rivercare Event of 2011

Before setting out on the village tour trail on Saturday, I went along to the final Rivercare event of 2011. Rivercare events are run by the Coucil, and are open to anyone to come along and help improve the riverside environment in Bedford. Saturday's 'Green and Arty River Clean Up' concentrated on the area near Aspects and Longholme Way. In addition to the usual litter pick, a mural was also painted in the underpass which links Aspects to the embankment, while the railings were also repainted. My talents were best suited to repainting the railings, as you can see from the photo! It was really enjoyable to work alongside the numerous local volunteers young and old who gave up their Saturday morning to make a positive difference to our shared riverside environment. I want to say thanks once again to all those who came out and got stuck in. They provided an example of real community spirit in action, in common with all of those people across Bedford Borough who take care of their local environment .

26 Sep 2011
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