Weekly news from Bedford, UK

BoS leads with a report that vandals have been blamed for ripping apart a school bus which had just undergone a £22,000 refit.

In 15 minutes of mayhem, seats were slashed by schoolchildren from St Thomas More School.

Enraged Stagecoach bosses contacted Bedfordshire on Sunday on Friday morning after the bus arrived back at Bedford Bus Station after the school run on Thursday evening.

Operations manager Sean Catt said: "It's an absolute disgrace. This is not actually a school service but rather an extra bus that we put on to serve the number six route from St Thomas More School so that our regular passengers are not all squashed.

"This bus only came back into service three weeks ago after undergoing an extensive £22,000 refit - £1,100 of that was spent on the seats and now several of them have been destroyed.

"This is not the first time we have had problems with St Thomas More pupils and we have raised the issue with the school in the past but we are just about getting to the end of our tether and are considering various actions we can take to stop this happening."

Andrew Pike, Stagecoach union representative, said:

"I am actually getting members coming to me saying they don't want to drive the school buses.

"If they are on a double-decker and this sort of thing is going on upstairs they have got people running up and down and shouting. It's extremely distracting.

"The drivers are put in the position that they do not want to go upstairs and confront the children because their behaviour is frequently abusive and aggressive and this latest incident raises the possibility that at least one of these pupils is carrying a knife.

"Not surprisingly the drivers are keen to steer clear so you only see the damage when they reach the station.

"All this damage happened in just the 15 minutes between picking the children up and arriving in the town centre."

He and Mr Catt took the bus to the school on Friday morning to allow head teacher Alan Lee a chance to see the damage for himself. Mr Catt said:

"He seemed speechless. I think he is struggling to know how to address the situation but he has said he will be writing to parents."

According to BoS plans have been drawn up to increase the cost of on-street parking by up to two thirds.

The new charges will be discussed at County Hall tomorrow and the increases will be introduced by the Bedford Joint Parking Board in April 2006.

Members have been given three options by officers which could generate more than £200,000 for the authority when the new charges come into practice.

The parking board also intends to increase the cost of parking permits for both residential and business users. Residents' permits are set to increase by £2.50 for the first permit, £5 for a second and £10 for a third. The business increase would be £15 for the first permit and £25 for any subsequent permits. A Bedford Borough spokesman said:

"Inflationary pressure has resulted in the need to increase on-street parking charges.

"This is, however, only the second time the charges have been increased since the scheme's introduction in November 2000."

The move though will anger motorists coming after rises amounting to 133 per cent in two consecutive years in the charges for multi-storey car parks.

Regular town motorist Scott Henderson, 30, said:

"I don't see why the council has to continuously tinker with the parking prices around the town.

"There's already been a huge increase in parking in the multi-storey and with this it seems as if more money is being squeezed out of motorists for doing a bit of shopping or parking outside their house.

"It's no wonder people prefer going to Milton Keynes."

An armed robber who was serving a seven-year sentence walked out of an open prison and immediately returned to crime.

At Luton Crown Court on Friday Kevin Kahari, a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe, admitted robbery and asked for an attempted robbery to be taken into consideration.

Prosecutor Simon Smith said in April 2003 Kahari received his seven-year sentence for three robberies.

By September this year he was at an open prison in Worcestershire.

On September 21 he walked out. That evening he approached and tried to rob a woman in Redditch.

On Sept 23 taxi driver Mohammed Sharif went to collect a fare in London Road, Bedford. Kahari said the cab was for him and when the driver became suspicious he pulled out a knife. Mr Sharif managed to escape and Kahari drove off in the vehicle which was stopped two days later in London. Despite initially giving a false name Kahari eventually made a full admission.

He was given an indefinite sentence for the protection of the public but will be able to apply for parole after five years.

He will be on licence for life and the Judge also recommended he be deported.

The Mill House Restaurant, Mill Road, Sharnbrook has a note on the door saying it has ceased trading and directing all claims to the Official Receiver in Northampton - but receivers say they have not yet had any notification from the hotel.

A statement from the Mill House Partnership which owns the premises said the tenants Keith and Marion McKewen filed for personal bankruptcy on Wednesday and their affairs are being handled by the Official Receiver, Adrian Furniss, at Northampton.

All the staff were informed on the day and the restaurant and hotel closed. None of the Christmas and New Year bookings that have been made will be met.

BoS reports that the spirit of Christmas has arrived in Bedfordshire.

The Bedfordshire on Sunday newsdesk has been swamped with entries for the paper's Christmas lights competition which we started last year and here are three of the first.

The pick of the lot will win a prize of £100 from the newspaper.

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 Bedfordshire District Council for the best in Mid Beds.

The competition will run until December 20, and winners will appear in the Christmas Eve edition.

Letters to the Editor

SIR - So Mid-Bonkers Council wants to close public conveniences in our towns (BoS, November 27) - a vital service. Presumably it will then serve Asbos on those taken short.

Something smells. Three pages later, the council takes a full page to advertise leisure centres that a cash-strapped council ought to sell or lease to David Lloyd, Champneys or a similar dedicated private sector provider.

Another four pages on it advertises for an artist to design a fanciful structure for its new offices at Chicksands, presumably to be called the Cornucopia Centre to match councillors' love of extravagance on fripperies.

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

SIR - I am a childminder living in Queens Park.

I regularly take the children that I mind out to explore, along the river, to Bedford Park, country parks and so on.

The kids love to get out and about but what really blights our trips out is the amount of mess left by dogs that their owners have been too selfish to clean up.

In the summer, another childminder and I went to the river at the back of Honey Hill Road for a picnic with lots of very excited children.

We had to abandon the plan after we got dog mess all over the wheels of both pushchairs, and we couldn't sit on the grass as we literally couldn't find a clear patch.

The children wanted to roll down the hills, and we couldn't let them because there was so much dog mess. I am sick and tired of having to disinfect the wheels of my buggy, my shoes and those of the children after coming into contact with dog mess after a simple walk in the park.

Surely the owners know of the serious health risks that their dogs' faeces can pose? I would like to make a plea to people who walk their dogs in public parks to please think of others using the area, stop being so selfish and clean up after their animals!

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

SIR - I believe Michael Headley somehow misses the point of the recent changes in the licensing laws (ie. extension of opening hours. Letter of November 27 'cheers for nothing').

It has been widely accepted that the present laws are antiquated and out of date. I accept there are problems in our society with binge drinking, predominantly among the young, with an increase in violent crime in connection with some licensed premises.

The extension of opening hours is just one of a range of strategies to deal with the problems.

Some individuals and also the media tend to attribute the problems associated with drinking to the changes in opening times but we all know this is far from the truth.

The thousands of British people who holiday abroad have an experience there which is not reciprocated when other people come here.

We allow the actions and misbehaviour of a minority to dictate what the responsible majority can or cannot do. Surely that cannot be right.

Criticism of Patrick Hall is unfair, because as the representative of Bedford and Kempston, he is aware that Bedford Borough Council through BED:SAFE works very closely with pub landlords and club owners to minimise and alleviate the problems in Bedford. The actions taken have proved to be very successful.

Let us all wake up and see the problems for what they are; that there is a so-called macho culture among the few believing that drinking until they are incapable is somehow rather wonderful and therefore combining this with a lack of self control and irresponsibility.

Certainly there are problems so let us have a change of culture but not to the detriment of the rest of us.

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

SIR - I went to the Bedford lights on Wednesday, November 23. It was a fantastic event when the two Chiltern Radio presenters, Little Miss Gee and Andy Gelder, performed the switch on.

There was a great firework display along with a revolutionary sleigh for Santa. WELL DONE!

We were disappointed to see that the only Bedford stores open were BHS and Woolworths - a missed opportunity for other stores in the town to maximise this fantastic shopping potential.

My only criticism of the event was the poorly-positioned barriers causing difficulty in getting away from the riverside along with ill-positioned fairground rides.

Walking down the High Street and into the town centre we must have seen the whole of Bedfordshire Police on the streets of Bedford. What a fantastic turn-out for such a family event.

How can we better improve this event for next year? Maybe collaboration with town centre shops, a Victorian market in St Peters Square. I'm sure all suggestions would be most welcome.

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

SIR - I wonder at the real costs of Dart and park-and-ride.

I would like to know how our Government comes up with unsustainable public transport schemes. If park-and-ride takes 300 cars out of town centre car parks who is going to pay for the upkeep of them? Obviously out of your council tax. So we are paying twice.

The Government knows how much of a moneyspinner a car user is so if it becomes successful in getting cars off the road where are the billions going to come from? Just look at how many billions are spent on the railway system and how much it loses.

I am a private hire driver and don't get any Government money and if I don't work I don't get any money, unlike the Dart and park-and-ride drivers.

I have seen taxi vouchers mentioned in your paper and surely if these were introduced it would save the taxpayer thousands, if not millions of pounds. Any taxi company could incorporate this system provided they meet the council criteria.

As for lower emissions, the argument is that if a taxi is not on a job, it is not running backwards and forwards wasting fuel. Why doesn't the Government just burn all private vehicles and take us back to the stone age?

I suppose they'll say there's too many aeroplanes in the sky next. It is a lot easier spending other people's money.

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

SIR - Myself and colleagues will be lobbying for the council to insist on more energy efficient policies to be brought in around our little town.

Why haven't we got any gas buses running around our streets?

I am fed up with having to walk the street and a bus goes past myself and my children billowing out diesel smoke. I see this all the time in Bedford.

Other towns and cities are adopting these green buses.

Also within our communties we have to understand the impact we can have ourselves personally on being energy-concious and forward-thinking about these issues.

A short-sighted individual mentioned last week about Mr Blair having to make a decision on nuclear fuel. My friend, we have to move forward not backwards, we learn by the past not live in it.

There are so many options available to explore for energy, the first being don't waste it!

I will be co-ordinating an active support group in this area for discussions of ways we can be more green locally.

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

SIR - To please everyone why not have the bridge illuminated blue on one side and green on the other and reverse them once a year as both colours look very attractive.

The Times&Citizen leads with the report that the Crayola Crayons company is to close its two sites, one in Ampthill Road, the other on the Woburn Road industrial estate.

County Hall is facing cuts in services after a Government payout branded "peanuts" and "the worst in the country" was announced this week.

Finance chiefs have been making gloomy noises about next year's county council budget for months, warning of the need to find savings.

Monday's release of Whitehall figures on how much Bedfordshire will get from central coffers has done nothing to lift the mood.

Coun Richard Stay, cabinet member for finance, said:

"It was worse than expected. I think it's reasonable to say that Bedfordshire has got the worst settlement in the country. No-one has got a lower percentage increase, and frankly what we have got I would regard as peanuts.

"We will not be able to continue to do everything we do at the level we do it. The Government has not provided the money."

The county council spends about three-quarters of the money raised by the council tax.
But the bulk of its near £400 million budget – about 60 per cent – does not come directly from local ratepayers, but as a grant from the Government.

It is the size of that cash award which was revealed this week. The council said it had risen by only two per cent, allowing for adjustments.

There is no chance, however, of covering holes in the books with a big hike in council tax, as any rises above five per cent will be headed off by the Government through 'capping'.

Juggling money between services is now on the cards, with areas like countryside access, music and libraries early candidates for cuts. The council has launched a consultation exercise to ask residents what the priorities should be.

Coun Stay urged residents to give their views. He said:

"These are vital services to people's lives, some to the most vulnerable sectors – education, highways, social services. They are critically important."

To have your say on the council's spending priorities, go to www.bedfordshire.gov.uk .

A borough councillor has been driven "absolutely furious" after plans to review parking arrangements in Bedford's Black Tom area were delayed again.

It had been hoped to launch a consultation with residents on ways to tackle problems in the car-choked neighbourhood in April 2005.

But it has now emerged work will not start until December 2006 or even February 2007.

Coun Colleen Atkins (Lab, Harpur) said: "I still have a report from 1988 by the Black Tom Action Group on parking, which was very detailed and came up with lots of ideas and suggestions. But by the time of the consultation we will have waited almost 20 years.

"I am absolutely furious that we can't get the consultation farther up the list."

The narrow Victorian roads of the Black Tom and Prime Ministers areas are notorious for their congestion and lack of off-street parking.

Coun Atkins said problems were worsened by some student houses, with three or four cars.

Her own poll of 78 properties in Gladstone Street found the households had 116 cars between them – 29 had one car, another 29 had two, five had three, one had four, one had five, while only 13 had none.

Consultation with residents was initially put back from April until January or February 2006.

And this week it was revealed the start date could now slip until as far away as February 2007.

The annual Victorian Fayre is taking place this week-end, and is bigger than ever. However, it is a trifle "samey" almost to the extent that I could have displayed photographs taken in previous years, where the same stands are in precisely the same position. The steam engine is just outside the library, as it has been for several years! That's me being a trifle critical, I suppose; I'm sure that children will be excited by it.

The skating rink proved popular. I cannot recollect when we last had frozen ponds in the past year.

Nice to see some genuine Victorian items; this one is still in use, though every item (in this case remaindered books) seemed to cost seven pence ha'penny!

May I wish you a good week ahead

Robert

Week ending 10 December 2005