Council tax in Central Beds will rise an average of 2.95% in April as a result of last night's vote. This wanton act ignores the promises made by predecessor bodies that the creation of the new Central Beds Council would bring savings in the first year.
Even before the budget discussion opened, the scene had been set by discussion of members' allowances, which we Lib Dems wanted cut in line with the recommendation of an independent panel. In the first recorded vote since the election last June, there were 11 votes for cutting the allowances (Lib Dems), one abstention (the independent Councillor) and the rest (Cons.) were in favour of maintaining them at current levels. The sound of snouts in trough was deafening.
While some cuts and efficiencies are undoubtedly being achieved, there is still much flab that needs addressing. I offer the example of £1.5 million 'contingency' in the Business Transformation budget for next year: a whopping slush fund undreamed of by any responsible business. Sure, one needs to play safe and build in some wriggle room, but do it on a risk assessed, line-by-budget-line basis, please.
And we also need to sweat the small stuff. This winter's road safety stunt of putting stakes with bunches of flowers attached, at the side of Central Beds' A-roads near accident spots, caused much bemusement until explanatory posters were erected. By the time the dead flowers were replaced with fresh bouquets, people were feeling annoyed that their well earned money had been spent in a publicity stunt.
Is something bugging you about what is or is not being done in the name of local Council services? Please share your thoughts.
Thursday 25 February 2010
Friday 19 February 2010
Warning: Closure of Sharpenhoe Road 25 Feb to 12 March; disruption for longer term good
This is a copy of the Notice being published in the Luton and Dunstable Express by the Central Bedfordshire Council re their intention to make an Order for the temporary closure of the above road to enable surfacing works to take place.
CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCIL
ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1)
(SHARPENHOE ROAD, SHARPENHOE)
(TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC) ORDER 2010
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Central Bedfordshire Council intend not less than seven days from the date of this Notice to make an Order the effect of which will be to prohibit any vehicle, except a vehicle being used for fire, police or ambulance purposes in an emergency, from proceeding along that length of Sharpenhoe Road, Sharpenhoe which extends from its junction with Barton Road south for 400m.
This temporary closure is required to enable surfacing works to take place and shall apply to such extent as may from time to time be indicated by the appropriate traffic signs. Where possible access will be maintained to property and premises but may be restricted from time to time according to local signing.
It is expected that the works will take place during the period from Thursday 25 February 2010 until Friday 12 March 2010. Closure times are 7.30am to 6.00pm.
The alternative routes available for vehicles affected by the proposed Order are:-
Proceed south on Sharpenhoe Road and then on Church Road to junction with A6 roundabout. Take 1st exit and continue to slip road to Barton. Continue on B655 Luton Road, Barton and then Bedford Road to junction with Sharpenhoe Road, Barton and then Barton Road, Sharpenhoe to junction with Sharpenhoe Road and site and vice versa.
The proposed Order will come into operation on 26 February 2010 for a period of four months or until the proposed works have been completed, as detailed above, whichever is the earlier.
For further information please contact Central Bedfordshire Highways, Tel: 0300 300 8049
DATED10 February 2010
Central Bedfordshire Council Basil Jackson
PO Box 1395 Assistant Director for Highways
Bedford MK42 5AN
CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCIL
ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1)
(SHARPENHOE ROAD, SHARPENHOE)
(TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC) ORDER 2010
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Central Bedfordshire Council intend not less than seven days from the date of this Notice to make an Order the effect of which will be to prohibit any vehicle, except a vehicle being used for fire, police or ambulance purposes in an emergency, from proceeding along that length of Sharpenhoe Road, Sharpenhoe which extends from its junction with Barton Road south for 400m.
This temporary closure is required to enable surfacing works to take place and shall apply to such extent as may from time to time be indicated by the appropriate traffic signs. Where possible access will be maintained to property and premises but may be restricted from time to time according to local signing.
It is expected that the works will take place during the period from Thursday 25 February 2010 until Friday 12 March 2010. Closure times are 7.30am to 6.00pm.
The alternative routes available for vehicles affected by the proposed Order are:-
Proceed south on Sharpenhoe Road and then on Church Road to junction with A6 roundabout. Take 1st exit and continue to slip road to Barton. Continue on B655 Luton Road, Barton and then Bedford Road to junction with Sharpenhoe Road, Barton and then Barton Road, Sharpenhoe to junction with Sharpenhoe Road and site and vice versa.
The proposed Order will come into operation on 26 February 2010 for a period of four months or until the proposed works have been completed, as detailed above, whichever is the earlier.
For further information please contact Central Bedfordshire Highways, Tel: 0300 300 8049
DATED10 February 2010
Central Bedfordshire Council Basil Jackson
PO Box 1395 Assistant Director for Highways
Bedford MK42 5AN
Thursday 11 February 2010
Barton Rovers pro BMX skate park
A bowl, half-pipes, steps, guiding bars, ramps. These are some of the facilities that local lads want in their BMX skate park, when we get it. And by lads, I mean it in the widest, Irish sense, to mean girls too. (So much more fitting for the sporty sk8ers than the other terms such as kids, youth, young people, don't you think?)
Last night was the first get together of the lads since the St Nick's meeting last May, the delay owed in part to Nicky Busbridge having moved out of the area. Local no-nonsense dynamo Steve Liddle (known to many for his gigs at The Bull) has now taken over the project. Matt, Daniel, Kirsty-Ann, Alex, Luke know what they want and what they don't, leaving mums Tarja and Karen Theobald cheering from the sidelines - for now.
Having been warned off the Recreation Ground by local nimby interests, the project may have found a welcome with Barton Rovers Football Club if terms can be agreed. These include that the BMX project use the current car park in return for tarmac'ing a new area where they'd prefer the car park to be sited. Also, that the skate park be fenced in and accessible to members only at a peppercorn fee, to promote a sense of ownership and reduce the chance of vandalism.
This last point was received less than enthusiastically by one of the lads with direct experience of the Croxton Green skate park where, as a result of pressure from local residents, a fence, then a warden, then rules about helmets and restricted opening hours gradually led to its disuse.
What are your views on this? Have you experience of such matters? Do you want to get involved or lend your support, financial or otherwise to this long awaited project?
Please share your views here or e-mail me at janet.nunn@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk so we can make the Barton BMX skate park project happen. Thank you.
Last night was the first get together of the lads since the St Nick's meeting last May, the delay owed in part to Nicky Busbridge having moved out of the area. Local no-nonsense dynamo Steve Liddle (known to many for his gigs at The Bull) has now taken over the project. Matt, Daniel, Kirsty-Ann, Alex, Luke know what they want and what they don't, leaving mums Tarja and Karen Theobald cheering from the sidelines - for now.
Having been warned off the Recreation Ground by local nimby interests, the project may have found a welcome with Barton Rovers Football Club if terms can be agreed. These include that the BMX project use the current car park in return for tarmac'ing a new area where they'd prefer the car park to be sited. Also, that the skate park be fenced in and accessible to members only at a peppercorn fee, to promote a sense of ownership and reduce the chance of vandalism.
This last point was received less than enthusiastically by one of the lads with direct experience of the Croxton Green skate park where, as a result of pressure from local residents, a fence, then a warden, then rules about helmets and restricted opening hours gradually led to its disuse.
What are your views on this? Have you experience of such matters? Do you want to get involved or lend your support, financial or otherwise to this long awaited project?
Please share your views here or e-mail me at janet.nunn@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk so we can make the Barton BMX skate park project happen. Thank you.
Sunday 7 February 2010
M&S Bedford: a shining example of xenophobia
European friends of mine from Bedford's Star Rowing Club were understandably indignant when Bedford's M&S refused to sell them alcohol recently on the grounds that they didn't have acceptable UK proof of age.
Neither could in any way be mistaken for under 21 let alone under 18 (and will not mind me saying so), so what was the challenge about? The issues were:
1. Wiebke, a mid-30s German, had her German ID, which allows her passage across all borders throughout the EU, dismissed as if of inferior status, as did Aga, a Polish woman in her late 20s
2. While both women rightly asked for the matter to be referred to the manager, the manager proved as stubborn about the need for the proof of age to be a UK document. The women were not allowed to buy their bottle of alcohol.
I have two questions.
Firstly, to Stewart Rose, M&S's supremo: is this truly company policy?
Secondly, to Dave Hodgson, Mayor of Bedford Borough Council: what can you do to check this kind of xenophobic bureaucracy? I know that you're not in charge of trading standards officers or indeed any other staff at the Council, but perhaps you could use your statesmanhood to check out what's going on within one of the flagship stores on your patch?
P.S. I do mourn the days when M&S had its flagship store opposite Galeries Lafayette in the retail heart of Paris's 8th district and its sandwiches, shipped in daily from UK, were the Parisian office workers' favourite. That made me proud to be British. The above incident does not.
Have you experienced similar discrimination within Bedfordshire? I'd like to hear about it and to challenge it. Thanks for sharing.
Neither could in any way be mistaken for under 21 let alone under 18 (and will not mind me saying so), so what was the challenge about? The issues were:
1. Wiebke, a mid-30s German, had her German ID, which allows her passage across all borders throughout the EU, dismissed as if of inferior status, as did Aga, a Polish woman in her late 20s
2. While both women rightly asked for the matter to be referred to the manager, the manager proved as stubborn about the need for the proof of age to be a UK document. The women were not allowed to buy their bottle of alcohol.
I have two questions.
Firstly, to Stewart Rose, M&S's supremo: is this truly company policy?
Secondly, to Dave Hodgson, Mayor of Bedford Borough Council: what can you do to check this kind of xenophobic bureaucracy? I know that you're not in charge of trading standards officers or indeed any other staff at the Council, but perhaps you could use your statesmanhood to check out what's going on within one of the flagship stores on your patch?
P.S. I do mourn the days when M&S had its flagship store opposite Galeries Lafayette in the retail heart of Paris's 8th district and its sandwiches, shipped in daily from UK, were the Parisian office workers' favourite. That made me proud to be British. The above incident does not.
Have you experienced similar discrimination within Bedfordshire? I'd like to hear about it and to challenge it. Thanks for sharing.
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Gritty Gothenburgers take snow in their stride
This has been the snowiest winter for Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, since 1987. It normally doesn't get much snow with being on the West of the country, just lots of rain. But the snow couldn't catch them out; they still they did a
super job of snowploughing and gritting roads and main thoroughways. (Salt is ineffective at temperatures below -4C, which is what we had there last weekend.)And for the pavements, they wait for life to quieten down in the evenings, then send someone up and down in a Suzuki Jeep with a mini snow plough on the front.
In fact, we saw a motley collection of vehicles being used from a mini JCB to the full Council liveried jobs; clearly they contract out some of the work, and why not. Farmers can't do much farming in temperatures of -14C, so this type of work is useful to society and keeps the wolf from the door.
There were people pressure-hosing tram points, no doubt with anti-freeze similar to what they spray planes' wings with before take-off. Magic.
People went about their business, taking the snow-over-ice layered conditions in their stride, including the many 70 and 80 year olds we saw zipping around. (One on two sticks who still took the tram to go shopping.) We also admired the bin men who were going about their duty, but I took my hat off, figuratively speaking only you understand, to the people who still cycled around on their trusty bikes, including the Postie with panniers. Now that is the right stuff...in the white stuff:-)
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