Liberal Democrats at Bedford Borough Council are calling on the Government to give local Councils more powers to deal with addictive and dangerous betting machines in our town centre.
The long-derelict former Porter Blacks building on the corner of Bedford's High Street and Dame Alice Street is among three more properties set to be transformed with help from a Council-led regeneration scheme. The owners of the former Porter Blacks at 100 High Street, Sira Building and Development Limited, have formally accepted a grant offer from the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), a partnership project to revitalise the High Street environment and to protect and promote its heritage. The grant funding will be used to help reinstate the grand shop front and ensure this important gateway property is once again occupied.
Mayor Dave Hodgson has outlined the depth of the looming crisis facing local services as Government cuts and rising demand for services combine to create an unprecedented funding gap.
Mayor Dave Hodgson's annual Village Tour is to conclude tonight with open street surgeries at Stevington, Pavenham and then Oakley with half-hour sessions beginning at 5.30, 6.15 and then 7pm respectively. Oakley is the 61st and final village on the Mayor's Village Tour 2015, which has seen over two hundred people speak to Mayor Dave directly in their village, discussing a range of local and wider issues.
Mayor Dave Hodgson has echoed a stark warning from the Local Government Association (LGA) that local services are being placed under severe threat not only by unprecedented government cuts but also spiralling cost pressures imposed on Councils. The LGA has calculated that Councils face an additional £10 billion of cost pressures by 2020, with over £6 billion of this comprising government policies to be implemented over the period.
