New Bus Services - Bucking the Trend and Supporting Services Across Urban and Rural Bedford Borough

Details of new bus services in both urban and rural parts of the Borough have been announced, and they confirm that we are bucking the trend and protecting and even improving services here at a time when they are being slashed elsewhere. Of course, as with any changes to bus routes, it is not uniformly good news, but overall across both urban and rural parts of the Borough access to decent bus services is being maintained and even improved. The headlines from the changes to both the Stagecoach commercial routes and the new Bedford Borough Council-tendered rural services run by Grant Palmer include the long hoped-for extension of services in Bedford and Kempston until up to 11pm, free rural weekend travel for under 16's and new paperless smartcard ticketing in the urban area. We are also continuing the vastly improved new Sunday services we introduced in Bedford recently, with routes which mirror those run commercially by Stagecoach over the rest of the week.

Petitions Policy Helping in Our Drive to Open up the Council to Local Residents

Arts, Culture and Fund-Raising Football - A weekend in Bedford Borough

A post on Twitter on Sunday by a member of a vocal group which took part in the Bedford Busking Fest declared that "Bedford had a great vibe today." I couldn't agree more, and I would add that that vibe extended across the whole weekend, not just on Sunday, and also to a range of events in addition to the Busking Festival. The performing arts festival Bedfringe continued with a number of events over its middle weekend at a variety of venues, while on Saturday it was great to welcome Proms in the Park back to Bedford Park for the first time in a number of years. The fireworks and light show to round it off could not doubt be enjoyed from across town! The busking festival continued on Sunday with a diverse range of performers, adding a lovely extra dimension to a trip into town. Also on Sunday, a very special charity football match took place at the New Eyrie, home of Bedford Town F.C.

Council Funding Gap: The Scale of the Challenge

I have written before about the financial challenge facing Bedford Borough Council, but as consultation begins on the first set of proposals to modernise Council services and make them more cost-effective, it is worth considering the figures involved in order to really grasp the full scale of that challenge. Bedford Borough Council has to save £36 million over four years in order to balance the books. That's an awful lot of money by any reckoning, but the fact that it represents over a quarter of the Council's current total net budget of £129 million brings the size of the task ahead into even greater focus (the bar chart on the right provides a graphical illustration). There is no escaping this; the Council is legally required to deliver a balanced budget, and cannot make a policy decision not to make all the savings, for example. What we can do, however, is to work with all parties on the Council, with staff and crucially with residents to make sure the savings are made carefully and in the fairest way poss

Loss of Crucial Right of Way Averted as Network Rail Commits to Footbridge Alternative

After writing previously on mayordave.org.uk about Network Rail's plan to remove the riverside footbridge over the railway near Prebend Street in Bedford without providing any alternative to protect the right of way, I am delighted to report that following our negotiations it has committed to a major investment in a new footpath and underpass.

Redevelopment Underway at Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum

The building work on the exciting redevelopment of the Council's Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum got underway last week. This £6 million project will help to revitalise the heart of Bedford's cultural quarter, and make the art gallery and museum more attractive to both local residents and visitors to Bedford. The redeveloped facilities will include new galleries, allowing more of the world class collections to be on display at any one time, and a shop and cafe. Not only will we be able to vastly improve what's on offer to visitors, but we're also managing to reduce the ongoing running costs for local taxpayers through a range of actions including making the buildings more efficient and sustainable and providing new space for corporate hire.