Weekly news from Bedford, UK

BoS leads with a list of six most wanted men in the county:

Bedfordshire Police is appealing to the public to help trace these men who are all wanted for serious offences committed in Bedfordshire.

Under the banner of Operation Christmas Presence officers from around the county are arresting others who are also wanted on a daily basis.

For the second year running, Bedfordshire Police is hitting criminals where it hurts by locking them up during the festive season.

As you read this the police have already arrested more than 100 people on their wanted list.

For the next eight weeks the force will be targeting known offenders with the aim of getting them to court and dealt with for crimes they have committed.

At the same time they will be educating the public so they can protect themselves from becoming victims of crime.

Ever wondered, comments BoS, how much taxpayers' money is being given to Nirah? The answer is £4 million.

The Nirah project is to build three huge domes in disused brickfields near Stewartby.

The domes will contain different freshwater environments containing fish and aquatic mammals.

These will be monitored and investigated by non-invasive research to see if they can help in the treatment of diseases.

The centre will also be a tourist and education centre.

The county council and East of England Development Agency are each giving £2 million to progress the project.

Bedfordshire County Councillor John Scott said:

"The Nirah project should bring tremendous economic benefits for Bedfordshire.

"The £1 million already provided would be repayable should the project not be successful."

(I'm unclear as to whether this is a criticism. This project has been in the news for some time, and will make a huge difference to the county, attracting people from all over the country).

BoS reports that a borough councillor, Tony Hare, has been suspended for six months.

He was reported to the Standards Board last year for allegedly breaking the council's code of conduct.

Two complaints were made against him, involving breaches of the code, which sets out rules governing the behaviour of members.

The allegations related to:

• Disclosure of confidential information;

• Not treating others with respect;

• Bringing the office or authority into disrepute.

Last month he was cleared of all charges except not treating others with respect.

They were heard by the Adjudication Panel of England, an independent body.

On Friday the tribunal found that Cllr Hare had treated officers with disrespect and suspended him from being a councillor for six months. Cllr Tony Hare said

"I am amazed how one letter to a senior officer can result in this suspension. The punishment is totally disproportionate to the crime."

BoS reports that officers at the county council are apparently using 'hotmail' accounts to send each other emails criticising councillors.

Although council officers have use of the in-house system, Bedfordshire on Sunday has been receiving copies of emails sent by employees using private email accounts which can be accessed by a password on any computer.

These emails are critical of certain councillors and other officers and also refer to an argument that has been ongoing for months - if not years - between a tenant farmer, Steve Bumstead and Bedfordshire County Council.

BoS has asked for all correspondence on this matter under the Freedom of Information Act.

Correspondence sent by hotmail accounts would be much more difficult to trace and may not be made available. Cllr Paul Walley, deputy leader of the county council, said:

"It is implicit in our IT policy that official business should only be conducted using the council's email system.

"We would urge anyone claiming to be in possession of any emails that originated from another email system to share them with us so that we can investigate and take any appropriate action.

"It is of course possible to 'fake' emails, but we can investigate whether or not an email is genuine.

"In relation to a Freedom of information Act request, the council would have to ask officers and members to provide any information relating to official business that they might hold outside the council's systems."

Bedfordshire on Sunday has agreed to let the council see the emails in its possession.

SIR - My attention has been drawn by several members of my ward to the problem of uninsured cars on our roads.

I understand that there could be as many as a million cars on our roads without valid insurance and presumably tax and MOT.

I also understand that Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman has unveiled proposed changes to the Road Safety Bill in Parliament - designed to make it illegal to own an uninsured or unregistered motor vehicle.

I would like to stress that action from the Government to make it illegal to own an uninsured or unregistered motor vehicle is long overdue.

The vast majority of motorists are fed up with the hardcore of anti-social motorists who drive without insurance.

Statistically, uninsured drivers are a far more serious threat to road safety than those otherwise law-abiding motorists that are caught fractionally above the limit by a speed camera.

Hopefully this latest announcement is the first step towards the Government taking a more sensible approach to road safety enforcement. Perhaps now ministers will stop relying on speed cameras - which cannot catch uninsured drivers - and abandon their policy of cutting traffic police numbers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SIR - I have never been so disgusted as I was tonight.

The fireworks started, which one would expect, but never in a church car park.

I have written to Woodside Church where the fireworks occurred. It is supposed to be a place of worship. What care was there for all creatures great and small - as taught to us all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SIR - I feel this correspondence will have little effect in the debate over the Town Centre Action Plan which has been published for 'consultation' from October 19 to November 30 and smacks of a 'done deal' by the council, developers and faceless bureaucrats at the Town Hall.

This is a period of consultation which can only ever pay lip service to the little people whose lives will be totally changed forever by the Preferred Option Plan which envisages building on the site of the former market and car park in spite of the fact that countless numbers regard this facility on the riverside as essential for locals including churches, the rowing club and even the Corn Exchange, which all rely heavily on this resource.

Whether we approve or disapprove of the replacement buildings as architecturally suitable for this area of the town, I suspect little consideration has been given, or even thought necessary, to those whose lives revolve around this facility so vital to so many community activities. Strange how out of kilter this is compared with the consideration given to new clubs or pubs which are opened or developed.

Publishing these plans in the November edition of Bedford News means that half the consultation period has already gone with little time for any serious form of objection.

Getting rid of this parking facility will cause great hardship.

May I urge the planners, council and developers to think again or has it gone, as I suspect, too far for the residents and major users of this area to object with any real effect?

The good news, BoS reports, is that the proposed rowing lake at Willington has been included on the official list of training sites for the 2012 Olympics.

But t he bad news is, at the current rate, it will not actually be built by then.

Di Ellis, chairman of the ARA has confirmed following her visit to Bedford on November 29, that the lake proposed at Willington is now included on the possible training site list.

This follows the success of local architects Woods Hardwick in persuading English Nature, DEFRA, and the Internal Drainage Board to withdraw their objections and be content with conditions attached to the planning consent.

The only remaining stumbling blocks lie with the borough and county councils.

The picture shows an artist's impression of the proposed lake.

Bedford Blues players are in the pink.

After thumping Pertemps Bees on October 29 at Goldington Road, the players were in The Cricketers Arms at the start of a charity pub crawl collecting on behalf of Breast Cancer.

The operation was conducted with military precision, ten minutes being allocated for each of the nine pubs pubs on the list.

A whistle was blown to move on to the next pub, after the required amount of alcohol had been consumed.

The Times&Citizen leads on a report of an air crash after taking off from Cranfield. At the time of writing the pilot is believed to have been killed; his passenger suffered multiple injuries.

An independent school may have broken competition law by sharing information about fees, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

In a provisional finding, Bedford School, based in De Parys Avenue, has been named as one of 50 independent schools which has allegedly charged parents inflated fees.

The schools – which include renowned Eton College – were found to be provisionally in breach of the Competition Act 1998 which came into force in 2000.

This allegedly involved the schools exchanging information about fee increases.
The OFT stated this "regular and systematic exchange of confidential information" was anti-competitive and resulted in parents being charged more.

The OFT has given the schools until March 2006 to make written and oral representations.

An investigation is under way into a suspected arson at Houghton Road, Bedford.

Bedfordshire Police have launched an inquiry after firefighters were called to a house fire at around 1.30am on Wednesday.

It is believed five adults managed to escape from the building before Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue arrived. A neighbour said:

"We heard a lot of noise early in the morning and were surprised to see fire engines outside our window.

"We believe lodgers live in the house who seem to come in and out during the day.

"We used to have trouble in the past, but not recently, so I am surprised something like this has happened."

Police scenes of crime officers were called in and a full investigation is now in progress.

The Christmas lights are being put up in the centre of town. By 4pm it is getting dark. The weather has been good, though cold, with hardly a cloud in the last few days.

May I wish you a restful week ahead

Robert

Week ending 19 November 2005