Hello! Weekly news from Bedford, England

BoS leads with "Spend, spend, spend" - a report that the county council is to spend more than half a million pounds employing six new bureaucrats - to help save money and cut bureaucracy.

Bedfordshire County Council is one of the worst performing authorities and has one of the highest council taxes in the country.

It is advertising for assistant directors for corporate policy and performance, organisational change, communications, community leadership and democracy, customer service and efficiency.

The wage bill for the new posts will be £419,000, with most attracting salaries of £70,000 plus per year. Add to this pension and administration costs and the council will be coughing up well over £500,000.

All the job descriptions state that 'it will take exceptional leadership to get where we want to be' adding that the council has 'one of the most challenging and ambitious transformation agendas in the UK'.

The council has just advertised for a director of culture and a finance director as well as appointing a £100,000 per year deputy chief executive.

For the 'assistant director efficiency' the spiel states:

'We're looking for someone to lead the Gershon Efficiencies agenda, especially in the areas of procurement and process redesign. You will give us more to spend on things that matter and reduce our bureaucracy.'

Sir Peter Gershon's independent review into public service efficiency was about releasing resources for the front-line.

The language may sound like gobbledegook but according to the council 'although the wording may not be obvious to some people, the specialists we seek will fully understand the terminology'.

The cost of the new posts was authorised by the full council when setting the budget in February despite Bedfordshire having one of the highest county council tax rates in the country.

MP Patrick Hall said:

"Whatever the jargon the county council employs it can't hide the fact that it is the third highest taxing and worst performing authority in the country. To say this news does not fill me with confidence is an understatement."

A council spokesman said:

"If we were already doing well we would not need these people. We recently started a transformation process to deliver service improvements for the people of Bedfordshire.

Excellent councils invest in their infrastructure and their leadership teams. These roles will ultimately create savings, better value and better services."

Moat House Hotel has been put up for sale as part of a nine hotel package expected to fetch more than £100m.

Queens Moat Houses (QMH), which was acquired by Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Street property arm last year, has appointed property agent Christie and Co to handle the disposal of the properties.

The nine hotels, which all carry the Moat House brand, are in Bedford, West Bromwich, Cardiff, Harlow, Dartford, Northampton, Nottingham, Telford and Watford.

(Lovely view from the inside, as I discovered at a wedding reception last Saturday; ghastly eye-sore from the outside, and totally out of keeping with the Embankment!)

Beds. on Sunday reports that a teenage gang attacked an innocent girl during her lunch break in the school playground

Parents alerted Bedfordshire on Sunday to the incident as they fear the staff Mark Rutherford Upper School, on Wentworth Drive, Bedford, are struggling to keep this gang under control.

The girl, who is currently in year nine at the school, had her hair pulled and was then pushed and shoved to the floor by the group on Thursday lunchtime.

One parent, who refused to be named for fear of his son being picked on, said:

"The school appears to be unable to deal with the problem.

When you ask your child how their day at school was you don't expect to hear about a gang of rampaging yobs beating up young girls.

From talking to other parents I know that even the older children are scared of this gang and a number of GCSE students are considering leaving the school to take their A Levels elsewhere."

The area around Mark Rutherford School is currently experiencing problems from a gang who call themselves 'Black Putnoe'.

Since the incident took place, headmaster John Summers has excluded two pupils and banned two others from coming on to the school premises.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire County Council confirmed that the incident took place. He added:

"The school is keen to stress that there is no gang culture and to refer to a gang in association with this incident is wrong."

He also confirmed that the police are investigating the incident.

A former lollipop man is behind bars this weekend for his part in a major drug-dealing ring.

He used to help schoolchilden cross the road outside St Bedes Middle School, in Bromham Road, Bedford.

The 36-year-old was caught dealing during a major police drug-busting operation at Bedford's Italian Club last year.

The man, who also worked as a flower packer, lived in a flat above the club on Alexandra Road and supplemented his income as part of a drugs gang.

In May last year over 100 police officers raided several addresses across Bedford after months of intelligence work. Crack cocaine, heroin, jewellery, cash and high-value electrical goods, along with a sawn-off shotgun, were seized from the properties.

The man was arrested and later charged with five others for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

On Friday afternoon he pleaded guilty and was jailed for two years for dealing cannabis from the car park of the Italian Club. He is the first to be sentenced.

His co-defendants, who have all admitted to dealing Class A drugs, money laundering and handling stolen goods, will be sentenced next month.

First the marriage between Bedfordshire County Council and a major partner looked to be on the rocks after poor audit reports.

Now the company has been caught dressing up its figures in another council partnership.

Evidence has emerged of 'a policy of inappropriate practices' by Hyder Business Services (HBS) in a £200m partnership with Milton Keynes City Council.

HBS - formerly Welsh Water plc - also entered into a £267m partnership deal with Bedfordshire County Council in 2001.

The privatisation deal was meant to reduce costs, improve computer systems and accommodation, provide services to the county's 220 schools and improve customer service generally. But the arrangement is not producing results, according to council documents, district auditor reports, Audit Commission reports and a study by public service union Unison.

The Bedfordshire partnership was meant to last 12 years but is now under review.

As the council and HBS consider their options, evidence of HBS massaging its performance indicators has emerged from Buckinghamshire.

Milton Keynes City Council's Head of Audit and Risk Management has just published a report on its HBS partnership.

His report identified:

"A management culture where inappropriate practices are promoted by apparent threats of job security.

"These practices were not traced to 'maverick' staff but were a policy of senior management."

HBS was found to be paying some bills very late, but others - including one for £1.8m - twice.

Last month, we reported how HBS had wrongly handed out £130,000 in just one week.

In February, the partnership was described by auditors as 'not delivering improvements'.

The audit report also referred to 'sums totalling around £95,000 which were identified as incorrectly paid' in pensions to former council workers.

Last month, union officials representing council workers called the partnership 'an utter failure which is costing the council taxpayer a great deal of money'.

The HBS-Bedfordshire partnership is assessed by measuring what are called 'key performance indicators' such as productivity and speed in certain areas.

The partnership with HBS - formerly Welsh Water plc - has so far met all its performance indicators.

Beds. on Sunday reports that they asked Bedfordshire County Council how it was possible for HBS to meet all its key performance indicators yet still be underperforming. A council spokesman said:

"Not all aspects of the service are measured quantitatively by KPIs. Bedfordshire has a regular audit programme, which includes review of HBS's KPIs."

At the time of going to press no comment from HBS had been received.

Six men have appeared in court after 65 officers raided 13 addresses across Bedford on Wednesday.

Drugs, large quantities of cash, weighing scales, clingfilm, mobile phones and several vehicles were seized.

The raids were part of Operation Athlete, launched in November last year after a large-scale drugs-bust in Shortstown.

Various people from different locations - Shortstown,Mark Allen, 33, of De Haviland, Shortstown, Bedford, Putnoe, Cotton End - all appeared before Bedford magistrates on Thursday charged with conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin. Exact amount are not known at this stage.

Because of its seriousness the bench sent the case straight to Luton Crown Court.

All were remanded in custody.

Brickhill Drive, or rather parts of it, has been resurfaced, and it is quite a delight to drive down on a smooth road. The state of the roads in Bedford is so poor that one almost forgets what a comfortable journey by car can be!

And actually it was done speedily and no-one could possibly have complained about the quality of the work.

Believe it or not, two days after the job was done, workmen were digging it up again to lay pipes. Cyclist Colin Matthews said:

"DSD did a fantastic job, keeping residents fully informed of roadwork schedules and minimising disruption, particularly during rush hour traffic.

The work was even finished a day early. Imagine my amazement to see a new hole appear by the weekend in the brand new, resurfaced road.

Could this not have done this before the road was resurfaced?"

Tony Rutter, who works nearby, commented

"Despite six or seven days of purgatory, the finished article was a good road surface. 'It won't last' was the cry from the office sage, but we could not believe our eyes when only two days later a contractor dug channel across Manton Lane to lay a new water pipe.

Surely it is not beyond the wit of the council to have planned this trench to precede the resurfacing."

And of course, it's always someone else's fault..........

A borough council spokesman initially claimed the problem was down to gas company Transco, who said: 'It's not us', and explained that the work was carried out by a contractor who had applied to the council for permission a month ago and been given the go-ahead even after mentioning the resurfacing.

A council spokesman later said:

"We will be speaking to Transco, who are responsible for the gas lines, and the contractors involved to find out what has gone wrong with the systems in place to prevent this type of incident from happening."

Despite this incident, the road surfacing seems to be excellent - thicker and more even than in other areas!

SIR - I must take issue with the views expressed in your letters page last week 'Saucy Antics hurting no-one', if only to show that not all readers of your newspaper subscribe to the viewpoints you chose to print.

At Christian weddings I conduct, a man and woman pledge themselves to 'love, comfort, honour and protect, and forsaking all others, be faithful as long as you both shall live'.

Rings are exchanged as 'a symbol of unending love and faithfulness'.

A public advertisement by any married couple seeking others to engage in sexual activity indicates a misunderstanding of disregard for, that vow of exclusive faithfulness and intimacy which is God's intention for marriage.

Sadly, 'physical precautions' will not remove the spiritual and emotional consequences of depravity.

Revd Richard Howlett

High Street, Lidlington

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SIR - Once again I read in the local press of Mr Frank Branston whingeing about the weight of the gold chain of office.

I am baffled by the problem as many years ago I wore this very same chain for about three hours one afternoon and I did not find it too heavy - and I was only nine years old at the time.

Also, I am concerned about the wear upon his suits. If he finds it a problem to replace them, may I suggest the town holds a flag day each year called 'New Suit for the Mayor Day'.

Come on Mr Branston, chest out, head high and stop moaning. Do something constructive like getting the roads and pavements in the town repaired and just think of that fat cheque at the end of each month.

(What a petty thing to write about!)

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SIR - When will the Government, police and local councils actually make a solid stand and deal with the groups of youths who are making our lives a misery?

Are ASBOs working? No. The police need the power to remove these idiots from our streets and lock them away. For what use are they left living among responsible citizens?

No wonder community life has disappeared. Ask parents to take responsibility. What a joke - most are worse and do not care.

I believe a country wide curfew would be appropriate. Human rights? These idiots don't deserve any rights. It's our basic human rights we are fighting for - to live in our houses peacefully and without fear.

I feel sorry for all those veterans who fought and saw their friends killed in the wars. What have we done to say thank you?

I realise a lot of people don't give a damn these days, but who wants to live in a society where graffiti, intimidation and vandalism are the norm? We seem to be producing a generation of really nasty, selfish people. What a thought for the future.

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SIR - You were right last week to highlight councillors drawing two wages by sitting on two councils.

It seems to me a touch greedy of them. Perhaps they would like to donate one salary to a worthy cause. It also prevents many aspiring councillors from making a start in trying to represent their community.

It is very hard to unseat sitting councillors as they often have their friends to back them and have, on occasion, used the threat of standing as an Independent if any attempt is made to get rid of them.

One name you missed from your list though was Lynne Faulkner. She represents the Conservatives in Brickhill, Bedford on the borough and now Wilstead on the county council. I hope for her sake there are no rural/urban conflicts or she may find herself torn in two.

Although I do remember the time back in Newcastle when a councillor on the city council led a petition for better street lighting - which he then rejected in his position as a county councillor.

It might be interesting to watch councillor Faulkner's voting habits on the two councils.

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SIR - On Wednesday evening I was unfortunate enough to misplace my mobile for a couple of minutes.

When I reached a phone and rang my number to try and get it back it was only five minutes since the thief had taken it.

It was only an old Nokia that he would be lucky to get £5 for but the expense and inconvenience to me is considerable.

If the thief had returned the phone, no doubt I would have given a small financial reward. To add insult to injury this mindless thief thought it would be fun to phone members of my family and abuse them.

I had the phone and my number barred within half an hour, therefore the thief was left with a useless piece of plastic.

On Thursday I discovered that you can track your phone via the internet. Had I known this on Wednesday I would have tracked the thief and demanded my phone back.

I wonder how many people know about this because how attractive would a phone look if the owner is following the thief's every move?

(I must confess that this was news to me as well! I'll try to find further details!)

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"Time key council staff were paid on results" (From Times&Citizen letters to the editor):

I keep on receiving literature on a regular basis telling me what a wonderful job the councils are doing but I cannot see any sign of real changes. Every year budgets are exceeded, which results on more tax increases. If local businesses constantly over-ran their budgets like our councils, they would simply go bankrupt as there is no luxury of an 'enforced demand' to meet the difference.

It's about time these key people in authority were paid on results and not just handed a fat salary with expenses. I have been in sales most of my working life with a moderate wage and targets to achieve. Hit target, receive bonus - fail, and no bonus.

It's time these people were held responsible for their actions and decisions.

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Sir - It's quite easy for Bedford Borough Council to cut down on fuel bills. Walk or cycle and do what pensioners have to do, wear warm clothes indoors as they cannot afford luxury hearing.

Whenever I have been in council buildings and hospitals, they are far too hot for comfort.

BoS reports that Council tax payers in Bedford could be facing soaring bills following huge increases in power charges.

Tuesday night's executive committee was informed by Mayor Frank Branston, that the power bill for the borough would rise by almost £225,000 and that the council tax bill for 2006/7 would have to be increased to compensate the cost.

A 19 per cent rise has already been predicted, but this could rise to 22 per cent unless action is taken.

Bedford Borough Council is considering ways to cut the power bill for the coming year to avoid any extra tax increase.

Mr Branston said:

"There are two possible solutions to bring down the cost of our power bills.

We need to look at conservation. This can be a case of turning lights and computers off in council buildings when they are not in use. The other option is renewable energy, which could mean putting solar panels on all council buildings.

Both are going to be good decisions no matter what. With renewable energy we would obviously have to pay out some money to install equipment, but we would be investing in reducing costs in the future."

As a result of the announcement at the executive committee meeting, all agenda items concerning resource strategy had to be withdrawn until a full report could be produced.

A Bedford Borough Council spokesman said:

"The council has received the tenders for its supply of gas and electricity from July 1 and these have reflected the continuing price increase in the market place.

The council has accepted the lowest tender which meets its criteria so as to ensure that further costs are not incurred. The council did not allow for a 20 per cent increase in price in its budgets, but the tenders received have resulted in a significantly higher increase."

The Bedfordshire section of the M1 is to get a revolutionary underground heating system aimed at reducing accidents.

The Highways Agency is to carry out a two-year trial from June on a 60-metre stretch of service road near Toddington services.

If successful, it will be used on motorways around the country.

Giant pipes under the road will slowly melt snow and ice before it sets on the surface, making gritters a thing of the past.

The pipes carry a special fluid which retains heat from the road during the summer and slowly releases it when it freezes.

In the summer it works the other way to cool the road and stop Tarmac expanding in the heat, which causes it to crack and potholes to appear.

The invention is modelled on the undersoil heating systems at football grounds.

Heated roads have been found to last up to 20 years longer, which can save millions in resurfacing.

Highways Agency chief engineer Ginny Clarke said: "If it proves to be effective and practical, there could be real benefits for road users."

(The article also shows this picture, which presumably shows a traffic jam, not hundreds of vehicle owners trying to keep warm!)

A former child prodigy, who scored an A* grade GCSE at the age of ten, threw himself from the balcony of his student flat after a female friend rejected his advances.

An inquest heard Michael Chan, 19, was one of the youngest ever to achieve the score in mathematics and went on to win a scholarship to Bedford School where he gained six A grade A' levels.

He won a place at Imperial College, London, to read chemistry but became depressed when spurned by a girl he considered his girlfriend.

Michael won a scholarship to Bedford School after scoring top marks in Latin at the entrance exam. He went on to achieve 15 A grade GCSEs, 11 of them at A* grade and six A grade A-levels.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Dr Knapman said: "This was a painful and tragic death of a man with a great future."

I know, from several emails I have received, that many people have an interest in Cardington. Here's a story from BoS:

Sixty years ago, Pieter Huijskens was a 17-year-old boy on his way to Bedford to learn all there was about aeroplanes and airships.

At the age of 78 he packed up his caravan, caught a ferry from The Hook of Holland, and made a pilgrimage to Cardington Hangars to complete his book 'Cardington: A pillar in the development of the postwar independent Royal Netherlands Air Force'.

Pieter said:

"I trained at Cardington as a technical engineer for six months in 1944 and during the 1950's I went to America to continue training with the US air force.

"I was only 14 when the war broke out and there was a big crisis as we began to run out of everyday things. I lived in Breda and after a while the town had to be evacuated. This was very difficult as I was a child in the family of nine children and my youngest sister was only three months old. We headed south towards Belgium on a road of refugees, but French soldiers were heading north and the Germans bombed the road.

"I went to technical school, but at the time Holland was very divided and there was a strong Dutch Nazi movement. The school's director was a Nazi and he came to school dressed in a full, black Nazi uniform. I detested the Nazi occupation. I hated them. When they tried to enrol me as a Nazi I objected. As a result I was beaten every Saturday until I was flat on the floor. People cannot believe that this happened, but it did."

When Pieter finished technical school he was not allowed to go onto further education as a result of his objection to the occupation. But it was the director of the school who actually saved Pieter from being sent to a concentration camp.

"The director said that he respected me for having my principles and speaking my mind. As a result I was sent to work in a machine factory when I was 16. One day the Nazi's began to arrive to take boys to Germany to work as cheap labour. The factory had a small tower which was used to lookout for air attacks, but on this day the Germans were spotted as they approached. The factory was on the bank of a river and the soldiers came down to surround the whole building apart from the back. I dived into the river with three friends and we swam to the other side to escape. That is all that saved me from being taken to Germany."

Pieter had to go underground following his escape and ended up living in a farmhouse. He met up with allied forces in 1944 and spent his time showing the soldiers where the Nazi's were hiding in the surrounding forests. Pieter then decided to volunteer to join the Royal Air Force on a technical level. He set off for Britain through Belgium and finally arrived at Cardington for his training. He spent two years as a member of the RAF and when he returned to Holland he was immediately involved with the new Royal Netherlands Air Force.

"I am writing this book to highlight the important role that Cardington played in training so many young men from Holland who went on to develop the Dutch Air Force. The people of Bedford were so good to me when I was here. Despite being a time of rations and coupons, people made me feel welcome and were very friendly."

Pieter was delighted to see that this helpfulness has continued up until this day. Although he wrote to Bedford Borough Council asking for assistance in his research, he did not receive a reply before he set off on his journey. It was purely by chance that he bumped into Ian and Georgie Eaglestone at the Anglers Rest pub on Clapham Road, and they agreed to help him. On Tuesday Georgie drove Pieter around the town and up to Cardington Hangars where they managed to talk their way onto the site.

Pieter said: "It's all thanks to these people that I have been able to research my book."

Pieter's book is due to be published by the Royal Dutch Air Force in August.

Yet another hassle between the Borough and the County:

Historic buildings around St Paul's Square may at last be tidied up but only so the county council can get rid of them.

Even so the two councils involved cannot quite agree on the state of play.

The houses, on St Paul's Square in Bedford, have been in a poor state for years.

They belong, along with the magistrates' courts, to Bedfordshire County Council. At one stage the county council was planning to build new courts but it now intends to refurbish the present buildings.

It is planning to sell the courts, along with the adjacent houses, to the Department of Constitutional Affairs, previously called the Lord Chancellor's Department.

The buildings will need to be cleaned up before the sale, which to some extent depends on private money being found.

The county council says it is waiting for the borough, which can force the buildings to be repaired and redecorated, to come up with a final plan.

The borough says the plan is sitting with the county.

What seems certain is that the buildings will be cleaned up and sold to the Government.

A Bedfordshire County Council spokesman said:

"The Department of Constitutional Affairs has an option to take ownership of the buildings if and when the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) goes ahead. This involves a complex set of negotiations between several parties. The eventual aim is to provide a courts complex suitable for modern needs.

An agreement was reached with the borough council to fund some cosmetic and repair work to the buildings. A condition was that a small tract of land adjacent to the buildings known as The Bank Site - because a bank stood there before being demolished - being sold to the county council. This was completed on April 1.

We are now awaiting the borough's proposals for a repair and redecoration programme before transferring the funds to them."

A Bedford Borough Council spokesman said:

"A schedule of works has been agreed, which was subsequently amended. We are now awaiting the county council to agree the amended schedule and then work can begin almost immediately."

The Times&Citizen leads with a disturbing report of a family who claim that their lives are being made hell by tearaway youths who have fired airguns and paintballs at them.

Shane Shubotham, of Luke Place, Bedford, said that he and his stepchildren are being threatened, intimidated and abused by teenagers living nearby.

He said that the situation is such that they are afraid to leave the house.

And he is disgusted by the young thugs' actions because one of his children is disabled with severe cerebral palsy.

He is in the process of setting up CCTV cameras in an attempt to gather evidence.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra had a belated homecoming concert at Bedford school last week, sixty years after being based there during the second world war.

The Orchestra recorded and rehearsed in the Great Hall from 1942-1945.

Biddenham Upper School received an honourable mention in the Commons this week, when Patrick Hall, MP, referred to an Auction of promises to raise funds for the "Hope House" orphanage at Bloemfontein, in South Africa.

Mr. Hall, questioning the Prime Minister, said "Does my right hon. Friend agree that while we rightly condemn some young people for antisocial behaviour, we should not forget that there are thousands who do good work - like the people of Biddenham - because they care about this world?"

(Prime Minister) "My hon. Friend is right."

(Gary Wright, a member of staff at Biddenham Upper School, and some 16 other students from years 11-13 and 3 adult helpers are flying over the South Africa in July. Biddenham supports a shelter for children in a place called Bloemfontein which is in South Africa. The shelter itself is called 'Hope House'. They hope to do some redecorating there, and the school has been involved in several events in order to raise money for resources in this shelter.)

Finally, I've just seen a short article in the Times&Citizen on a Peace walk conducted recently, culminating with a reading from Anne Frank' diaries, at the Anne Frank Tree in Russell Park. That's a new one to me; I'll look this up!

A peaceful scene just next to the road leading from Bedford to the by-pass and Cambridge.

Week ending 28 May 2005