Weekly news from Bedford, UK

BoS leads with a pretty damning report given by a former senior police officer about the police service. He has slated the police service as ineffective, swamped in red tape and staffed by those who have passed low level tests or have 'questionable degrees'.

Anthony Howlett Bolton, who was Bedfordshire's Deputy Chief Constable until his retirement in 2002, has produced a 90-page report for Politeia 'a forum for social and economic thinking'. It concludes:

'It is hardly surprising that public confidence in the police has declined. The public may not study the latest statistical trends in detail but they have an intuitive understanding of what is going on and why the police service is failing to overcome its serious problems.

'The sheer difficulty of cutting through the bureaucracy and getting the police quickly to the scene of a crime means that many people have given up hope and do not even bother to report crime. They know that effective action will not follow.'

The report adds that forces up and down the country have been inundated with papers and demands for statistics with little thought for how they will enhance policing and adds 'spending is set to increase but there is no guarantee of increased police effectiveness in tackling crime as a result'.

Mr Howlett Bolton also says forces need to improve their recruitment processes because 'No formal qualifications are now required to join the service. Entry follows a series of low level tests.

'The service does not attract its fair share of graduates and those it does attract seem to have more than their fair share of questionable degrees.'

The parents who left their children at home alone while they went on holiday to the Caribbean have been handed a police caution.

Last Thursday police and social services placed the children into the care of their aunt while they awaited the return of their parents.

BoS reports that t he assault case against the owner of one of Bedford's leading nightclubs was thrown out of court after the witnesses failed to show up for the second time.

The accused appeared at Bedford Magistrates' Court on Friday to face a trial for the alleged assault of Catherine Simms by beating on May 22 this year in Bedford town centre.

The case was dismissed by the bench after three prosecution witnesses, including the alleged victim, failed to turn-up in court without reason for a second time.

THE leader of a Bedford-based Nazi party has escaped a prison sentence after admitting to stirring up race hate.

He was spared a spell in prison but was given a nine-month suspended sentence.

It was accepted that he was not responsible for producing a magazine called Stormer which published a step-by-step guide on building lethal explosives.

The sentence was suspended for two years.

Bedford prison, BoS reports, is one of only six in the country to receive a national award for the quality of its work.

The Director General of the Prison Service, Phil Wheatley, visited Bedford prison on Friday to present an award to mark their High Performing Prison Status.

High Performing Prison Status is awarded to establishments that are consistently meeting or exceeding targets that continue to demonstrate a commitment to further improvement and that achieve significantly more than similar prisons with similar resources

The award was presented to a serving prison officer, Frank Settle, who had worked at the prison for 13 years, at the prison chapel in front of most of the staff.

Governor Paul Kempster decided this would be fairer than accepting the award himself, as he only became head of the prison in September. Frank Settle said:

"I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the staff and managers, past and present, who have contributed to making Bedford one of the country's top performing prisons."

BoS reports that the county council has finally got its children's services back on track three years after being put on special measures.

At the beginning of September Bedfordshire on Sunday reported that the department had finally turned the corner and on Tuesday a report published by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) confirmed that the service has been transformed in the last six months and is continuing to improve.

The report, which follows an inspection of children's social services carried out in July this year, concludes that a much improved political and strategic leadership has led to enduring progress, particularly in the key areas of safeguarding children, initial response and assessment.

Cllr David Reedman, cabinet member with responsibility for children's services, commented:

"Social services have been a priority for the council ever since the service was placed on special measures in 2002, so I am delighted that the CSCI has found so much to praise in their recent inspection.

"I am particularly pleased that the inspectors recognised that our staff, at all levels, are working hard to achieve good outcomes for children and families across Bedfordshire.

"The increased financial resources and improved working practices that we have put in place are clearly starting to get results."

Malcolm Newsam, director of children's services (designate), added:

"We are pleased that we have been assessed as serving some children well, with promising prospects for continued improvement.

"Progress in children's social services is gathering momentum, so I will be looking for even more progress in the next six months."

SIR - Your front page story of how Colin Peel's photography project on football grounds led to his violent arrest in a police drugs bust should make us all think about our Government's proposed anti-terror bill.

We are told the police need detention without charge increased to three months and we are told the reason for this is because that is what the police have requested.

We all like to think there is no smoke without fire, we can implicitly trust our police and of course it would never happen to us or someone we know.

Well it can and then it'll be too late and no one will hear you.

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SIR - May I refer to the letter by Phyllis M Jones of October 23 headed Peters for Mayor.

This woman and her friend have probably come to a very sensible conclusion. However ,we should not overlook that we already have a Mayor of Bedford who, despite much sniping, often by cross-eyed sharp shooters, does a good job under often difficult circumstances.

It may not be a smart move on my part to say, over the seven plus decades I have been around, I do not recall a Mayoral predecessor doing a better job and I'll wager the position has, like everything today, become a lot more difficult.

As we stand currently, Bedford has a wonderful chance of going forward as a town both from a business aspect and a place to live and the knockers should try living somewhere else or get their shoulder to the wheel and help, not hinder.

Enough of the heavy stuff.

I am naturally flattered that there are actually two people out there who consider I could be the number one citizen and as a compromise I will offer my services as a compromise to be Mayor between the hours of 10pm and midnight and realise my full potential - of simply being a 'night-mare'.

Michael Peters

The Broadway, Bedford

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SIR - I have sat here for the past five nights listening to noisy blasted fireworks. I thought they were only to be let off on November 5 or for special celebrations.

Does this mean I and people's pets have got to put up with this for at least another four nights?

Mind you if there were any coppers around in Sandy they might put a stop to it.

In the 17 months I have lived in Sandy I have never seen a copper only one whizzing past me in a car.

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SIR - Steve Lowe is not alone in having little sympathy for the geriatric delinquents who get banged up for their crusades of not paying their council tax.

As he says, they have never had it so good. By now they have paid for their large houses to rattle round in and they could sell them and move to somewhere smaller.

They have free television licences, help with fuel bills, cheap, if not free, transport and many shops, pubs, cafes and even hairdressers do OAP rates.

They also have the use of study facilities and free day centres.

All of the above are paid for by taxes.

There is an ever growing elderly population which has to be catered for and younger people have to work hard to fund all these services.

Don't bring out the old chestnut 'we fought for the freedom of this country'.

Most of those who fought have gone to a better place.

Those who moan were either born or growing up during the war as my family did.

We should be setting an example and paying our council tax. It is a selfish attitude not to.

I agree with Mr Lowe in everything he said.

Those who get locked up should be ashamed of themselves.

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(From a resident in Lidlington)

SIR - Tonight, after putting my young son to bed, I looked outside to see that not only had the bowl of sweets he had put out for the Trick or Treaters been stolen in its entirety, but also one of the two pumpkin lanterns he had carved with his daddy just the day before!

We had always felt that this was a pleasant village and that the children here would know better.

I am deeply saddened to realise that this is not the case.

Neither the bowl nor the sweets contained in it were of any great value but to have to explain to a small boy who is less than three years old, that some older children have stolen his pumpkin lantern is going to be very difficult.

A message for those children, or indeed their parents who may now be reading this letter.

We hope you are now feeling extremely remorseful over your actions. If you wish to return the bowl and the lantern it would be greatly appreciated!

Bedford's flagship hotel (says BoS!), the Moat House, has been sold to the international Rezidor SAS group which runs 276 inns in 46 countries.

In May Bedfordshire on Sunday revealed the hotel, which overlooks the river on the Town Bridge, had been put up for sale along with eight others from the Queens Moat House group.

Yesterday, manager Mark Barber said:

"We have been bought as part of a deal for all nine hotels. All the staff and management have transferred under a TUPE agreement and we're all very excited.

"There is a £15 million refurbishment programme for the nine hotels and I'm looking forward to seeing how much of that will be coming our way.

"We're now part of an international group which is bound to attract new business clients to the town so I see it as a very positive move."

It is that time of year again.

The clocks have gone back and Christmas is approaching. And Bedfordshire on Sunday is running the best decorated house competition once more.

If you are lighting up your home like a Christmas tree BoS wants to hear about it and photograph it.

The pick of the lot will win a prize of £100 donated by Bedfordshire on Sunday.

There will also be £50 donated by the Mayor of Bedford, Frank Branston for the best in the borough and £50 by the leader of Mid Beds District Council for the best in Mid Beds.

The borough is being asked to get tough and use new powers to fine fly-tippers and remove abandoned cars.

Under the plans, which form part of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, local authorities will now have more effective investigatory powers to catch fly-tippers, while landowners and occupiers who have had to clear fly-tipped waste can also recover clearance costs.

Further measures include the ability to remove abandoned cars straight away and Liberal Democrats on Bedford Borough Council have urged the executive to act.

They want to see the powers used in the borough to clear up the environmental blight.

Cllr Judith Cunningham, Lib Dem Environment spokeswoman, said:

"Nationally fly-tipping is costing £44 million a year in clean up costs. Tax payers are being held to ransom by the thoughtless few who think it's acceptable to dump their rubbish.

"Under this legislation we now have powers to fine the people who make the mess for the cost of the clear up and the cost of tracking them down.

"I am calling upon the Mayor and his cabinet to show their commitment to getting tough on environmental crime. In the last year the council cleaned up 2,273 fly-tips. We need to set a precedent in the borough to show that this kind of behaviour won't be tolerated."

A National Farmers Union spokesman said: "Fly-tipping is a huge problem in the Bedfordshire countryside and farmers do feel powerless to do anything about it. Any action is welcome and a good sign that Government is taking the problem seriously.

"However, with all socially caused issues there is the problem of enforcement and what authorities can really do with the powers they have. It is a situation that we will be keeping track of."

A borough council spokesman said:

"We have staff dedicated to dealing with environmental crime and take the problem of fly-tipping very seriously.

"The new powers provided under the CNEA will help with our successful on-going environmental enforcement work which is reducing the occurrences of fly-tipping within the borough."

BoS reports that ravellers setting up camp on playing fields could soon be a thing of the past.

Bedford Borough Council have agreed to spend £21,000 on a combination of bollards, rails and tree planting at Mowsbury Park in order to prevent illegal encampments.

The decision follows one made in September when councillors voted to erect bridle-path rails at Hillgrounds Road, Kempston, as a pilot scheme to see the effectiveness as a deterrent to travellers.

The Hillgrounds scheme was only considered by the borough council after Bedfordshire on Sunday revealed that travellers had put young footballers lives at risk by driving straight over pitches while moving between sites.

Although the rails at Hillgrounds have not yet been installed, members of the executive committee unanimously decided on Tuesday night that action needed to be taken at Mowsbury Park. Lib Dem councillor for Putnoe, Michael Headley said:

"Both Hillgrounds and Mowsbury Park have been used by travellers recently.

"Protecting just Hillgrounds left Mowsbury Park even more vulnerable, so I am very pleased that the council have now responded to my request and have agreed to give protection to Mowsbury Park as well.

"This should help to stop the costs and disruption caused by the unauthorised access that we experienced this year."

A Bedford Borough Council spokesman said:

"Members were sufficiently concerned about the large open space at Mowsbury that they extended the trial to include this open space too."

Finally, the steel band at Biddenham Upper School performed brilliantly in the Youth Proms at the Royal Albert Hall this week.

Performing in the Park, or at Fayres, is something to which the members had become accustomed, but to perform at a capacity crowd in London's huge Royal Albert Hall was something quite different.

Most people associate steel bands with raucous loud music. The first piece was played so quietly and sensitively that it clearly affected the huge audience.

They received a huge ovation at the end of their ten minute stint, and Howard Goodall, one of the organizers, who is also an established composer, has offered to compose a piece with them in mind!

So well done to the steel band who, incidentally, call themselves the Clangers - a very appropriate name for a band from Bedfordshire!

Russell Park

May I wish you a restful week ahead

Robert

Week ending 12 November 2005