News in brief
Occasional newsletter
12 January 2007
This week has seen some pretty violent storms, to the extent that several of us were looking to see whether the roof tiles were still intact. But (sadly!) no snow this season - yet.
As I write, the river has swelled considerably, and there are fears of some flooding. In fact, some areas of Kempston have been flooded. The picture on the right shows the appropriately named Water Lane!
And then, equally quickly, the sun comes out and all is calm, until the next storm!
And the days are getting just that longer. Just before Christmas the sun was setting at 3.51pm; now it is 4.15pm. It always cheers me up to know that we have passed the shortest day!
As readers will know, we British have a deeply ingrained habit of seeing the worst in every situation! Indeed, it was this that first prompted me to devise this web-site, as I was so offended by what was then in existence!
Here, then, is a success story. Some months ago the waste disposal tip in Barker's Lane, next to the Athletics stadium, was closed for refurbishment. Well,. it is now open, and in fact it was completed three weeks earlier than promised.
And a much improved centre it is, too. The old one was small, and one had to sport some pretty strong muscles to cast your waste into the skips. That's all gone now, with everything at chest-level. There are clearly marked bays for different forms of rubbish, and on the occasions I have been there, one is greeted by cheerful and ever-helpful people.
It is also twice the size, and so far I have experienced no need for queues.
And it seems that the public have responded in terms of recycling, because as one leaves, there's a notice showing how much has been recycled.
So, well done to the authorities for the success in this project.
Not many in the annual Honours list this year, as far as Bedfordshire is concerned, but congratulations to the four whose names appear:
Stephen Morgan was awarded an MBE for services to the NHS. Kevin Cawood was awarded an MBE for services to the Ministry of Defence, Professor John Wood gained a CBE, and Fiona Knight was awarded the OBE for services to disabled people.
As most will know, these popular honours are orders of the British Empire - a quaint eccentricity, in the light of the fact that we no longer have an empire! Perhaps in time they may be called Orders of British Excellence, or the like!
Whilst efforts are made to keep cars out of Bedford by providing a park-and-ride system, there have been cries of dismay over the plans by Stagecoach to revise its bus service.
The proposals, announced by Stagecoach just before Christmas, would leave many towns and villages in Bedfordshire with reduced services and in some cases with no buses at all. The plans would particularly hit the East of the county.
The cuts are due to come into effect on Sunday 18 February, but the County Council is still hopeful that Stagecoach can be persuaded to withdraw its bus service changes.
Bedfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Tom Wootton, said: "Stagecoach spoke with Council officers some time ago and indicated that they would be announcing a few service changes, but not on the scale we now face.
"Now we know the full picture, we're working to see what can be done to reduce the impact on people who rely on their local buses. The County Council currently supports Stagecoach and other bus operators with £2,500,000 from our own budget fund and with Government grant money.
"Early indications tell us that the cost of covering all these bus cuts and services reductions would be at least an extra £700,000 of tax payers' money. We will continue to support Stagecoach and other bus operators with subsidies of public money. But we have to make sure we're getting value for that money, we can't be held to ransom by commercial bus operators."
There's a new web-site for Bedford. See www.comearoundtobedford.co.uk
The County Council webcam is back in action. It is the view from County Hall over the river. See here.
The campaign for Unitary status is gathering momentum.
At present we have a two-tier system, with some services conducted by the County, some by the local council. Some years ago Luton was granted unitary status, which enabled it to plan all the services. Such a system is cheaper and more manageable, and there is a widespread feeling that the time has come for some streamlining to be set in motion.
But over to Frank Branston, who is spearheading the campaign for Bedford:
"Bedford is currently a two-tier authority, which means we can do such things as collecting rubbish, cleaning streets, maintain some side roads in the urban area, but by no means all, most planning but not when it involves mineral extraction sites or transport issues, promote urban regeneration, deal with playgrounds, sporting facilities, play schemes, housing the homeless, benefits, maintain parks and gardens, collect council tax on behalf of the county council, police and emergency services, and ourselves, local festivals and a number of other things.
To do all this we receive just ten per cent of the council tax we collect from you.
What we cannot not deal with is transport including trunk roads, through routes, traffic signals, roundabouts, education, social services, children's services, strategic planning, mineral extraction etc. That's what the county does
The county council receives 75% of your council tax. The last five per cent goes to police and emergency services.
A unitary council provides all the functions currently delivered by county and district councils.
On Bedford Borough, we believe that the two tier system is wasteful. It means that in the administrative county of Bedfordshire (excluding Luton which is already a Unitary) we have four councils, the borough, Mid-Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire and the county, all with their own chief executives, deputy chief executives, finance directors, directors of planning and their deputies. We argue that better services could be delivered with less money by unitary authorities.
Perhaps surprisingly, the county agrees. The borough is applying to become a unitary authority and so is the county, but the county wants to incorporate all the district councils and itself under one umbrella whereas our plan is the Bedford strikes out on its own, and Mid-Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire combines to become a now Central Bedford unitary authority. This was recommended in 1994, when Luton became a unitary, but was not picked up by the Government of the day.
Bedford is a good authority, as measured by the Government's grading system, and is expected to be upgraded to the top level of ‘excellent' in a few months. We also have lower than average council tax, outperform any other council in service delivery and are at the top of the value for money league table.
The county council was graded the worst shire county in the country with the third highest shire council tax. While it has improved in some areas it is still classified ‘weak'.
As all councils in Bedfordshire agree that unitary is best, why would we want to adopt the county model and be run by a weak county council when all three district councils in Bedfordshire are graded above the county? "
Watch this space!
More soon!
Robert