Speeding: New vehicle activated speed indicator signs will be installed soon. These are like the ones on Putnoe Lane and can be moved to other streets. Putnoe Street will be the first location, but please get in touch with other locations you think they should move to.

Roads: Beaulieu Way and Fountains Road were the latest two roads to be resurfaced in Putnoe. Michael & Sallyanne have asked the council to do more next year and we are waiting to hear from the Highways department which ones have been successful.

This is an update from local Lib Dem Cllrs Charles Royden and Wendy Rider on their recent work in Brickhill. For more news and information please click here.

Roads Programme

The junction of Windrush and Severn way will soon be resurfaced and the Borough Council has formally accepted our request for the repairs of Clyde Crescent and Falcon Avenue.We have also drawn attention to the access road to Thomas More School on Kennet Rise, Kestrel Road and Curlew Crescent. We will continue to monitor and agree with the parish council our road resurfacing priorities.

Bedford's decades-long wait for a new, improved bus station is nearly over, with a planning application for a major regeneration of the site now submitted.

Lib Dem Mayor Dave Hodgson this week unveiled the plans, which are available on the Council website and will shortly be available to view at locations around Bedford town centre.

Lib Dem Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson and The Villager Community Transport Service have announced a deal which will see £60,000 of Council funding used to help purchase a new vehicle for the vital rural transport service.

The Villager is a long standing community-led transport service which is staffed and run entirely by volunteers and provides regular shopper services for villages in the north of the borough. It is open to all residents but is particularly important to elderly or less mobile residents living in rural areas.

Today is pay day for millions of people across Britain, which means they will receive their first pay slip since the Income Tax personal allowance was raised from £8,105 to £9,440. When Liberal Democrats came into power in 2010 this was just £6,475.

Raising the tax-free allowance is the Liberal Democrats' flagship policy and has so far seen Income Tax bills slashed by £600 a year for millions of low and middle income workers compared to what they were paying under Labour. As a result, more than 2m people on low pay have been lifted out of paying Income Tax altogether.

Local Lib Dem Cllr Tim Hill has called for faster action from Anglian Water, after winning their agreement to carry out vital repairs to prevent flooding at Broadmead Lower School and Park Crescent in Stewartby.

Tim called a site meeting in November last year concerning a surface water pipe that had caused flooding, as it had not been properly cleared. The outcome of the meeting was that Anglian Water agreed to complete the work. However, despite their agreement that the work would be carried out by March 2013, Tim has now been informed that this work will not be done until late Spring/early Summer 2013.

Bedford Borough Council is pleased to announce the launch of the Community Toilet Scheme in Bedford town centre.

The Community Toilet Scheme will increase the number and enhance the network of toilets in convenient locations for shoppers and visitors.

The scheme enables local businesses such as pubs, restaurants and shops to work with the Council to make more toilets available to people in the town centre.

O&H Properties have applied to build 6 houses on land behind Stewartby United Church in Park Crescent, but this application was refused by the Borough Council's Planning Committee.

The Planning Committee refused the application on the basis of the sites allocation as an 'Important Open Space' in the 2002 Local Plan, and because of its designation as a 'Village Open Space' in the Draft Allocations and Designations Plan.

Ofsted have recognised Stephenson Lower School as a 'good' school with outstanding Leadership and Management. Every category assessed was marked as either good or outstanding.

Stephenson Lower School now joins the Borough's portfolio of good or outstanding schools. Last year, schools in Bedford Borough were praised after the Local Authority area was recognised by Ofsted as offering one of the best opportunities in the country for children to attend a good or outstanding primary school. Schools in Bedford Borough were ranked as 11^th out of 150 local authorities across the country and number one in the Eastern region, with 87% of children attending a good or outstanding lower or primary school. The latest Ofsted inspections have graded nine of the ten local schools inspected this academic year as good or outstanding.

There will be a change to Mayor Dave Hodgson's Cabinet in the new Council year 2013/14, with Cllr David Sawyer stepping down due to additional work commitments, to be replaced as Education Portfolio Holder by fellow Liberal Democrat Councillor Henry Vann. Labour Councillor Sue Oliver, Portfolio Holder for Children's Social Care, will take on the role of Lead Member for Children's Services, which is currently held by Cllr Sawyer. The changes will take effect from May 1^st, in time for the new Municipal Year.