Writing in his latest monthly column for the Times and Citizen newspaper, Mayor Dave Hodgson has outlined some of the key features of the Council's 2014-15 budget, which was supported unanimously by councillors of all parties and of none at the recent budget Full Council meeting.
Mayor Dave Hodgson has slammed the recent decision by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service to take away all criminal cases from Bedford Magistrates' Court, with only family court cases and potentially limited localy authority-related work remaining.
Following the Government's announcement of the 'Superfast Extension Programme', Mayor Dave Hodgson has confirmed that he will ensure that the project to ensure 95% of homes have superfast broadband access by 2017 will be delivered in Bedford Borough.
This week is National Apprenticeship Week, with a range of events going on around the Borough to promote the benefits to individuals of seeking apprenticeship opportunities, and to employers of providing those opportunities. In January Mayor Dave Hodgson announced the Apprenticeship Challenge: "2016 in 2016". This followed an apprenticeships summit Mayor Dave convened where the Council, training and education providers and employers sat down and agreed to set an ambitious target to reflect the ambition they all have for increasing high quality apprenticeship opportunities for young people and adults. So, while we have already seen huge growth in apprenticeships in Bedford Borough recently, the Apprenticeship Challenge sets the shared challenge of achieving the annual figure of creating 2016 new apprenticeships in 2016.
A new webcam trained on the bus station is now available via the Council's website, allowing local residents to keep an eye on this major project for Bedford Town Centre. Still images of the works, which have seen demolition on the main bus station building itself begin this week, are updated every few minutes, meaning even those who do not visit the site frequently are able to stay righ up-to-date with progress on this major development for their town.
Mayor Dave Hodgson has welcomed the news that Bedford Hospital has had its overall grading increased by the Care Quality Commission under its latest quality and risk review, which was published today. The move into 'Band 5' places Bedford among the best performing hospitals in the country.
