Mayor Dave Hodgson's latest monthly column for the Times and Citizen looked at the dramatic fall in unemployment revealed by the latest figures for Bedford Borough, including a 46% drop in jobseeker's allowance claimants since February last year. Here's the piece in full:
At a meeting of the Climate Change Committee this week, Mayor Dave Hodgson confirmed the new locations for rewilding and relaxed grass cutting to help save the bees and boost biodiversity across Bedford Borough. The new sites include Margetts Road, Aylesbury Road, Clapham Road Roundabout, Moor Lane, Bedford Park and Bowhill Park.
From the BBC: The Liberal Democrat candidate has been declared the newly elected mayor of Bedford after beating the rival Conservative candidate in the run-off.
I have written before about the financial challenge facing Bedford Borough Council, but as consultation begins on the first set of proposals to modernise Council services and make them more cost-effective, it is worth considering the figures involved in order to really grasp the full scale of that challenge. Bedford Borough Council has to save £36 million over four years in order to balance the books. That's an awful lot of money by any reckoning, but the fact that it represents over a quarter of the Council's current total net budget of £129 million brings the size of the task ahead into even greater focus (the bar chart on the right provides a graphical illustration). There is no escaping this; the Council is legally required to deliver a balanced budget, and cannot make a policy decision not to make all the savings, for example. What we can do, however, is to work with all parties on the Council, with staff and crucially with residents to make sure the savings are made carefully and in the fairest way poss
It was World Homeless Day last week, and in his regular email update, Mayor Dave Hodgson thanked volunteers and organisations helping to support rough sleepers and tackle homelessness locally. He also shared a video from his recent visit to SMART Prebend Day Centre's open day, where Lisa from SMART listed the items they are asking people to donate at the moment. You can read the full email, including the link to the video, below:
Mayor Dave Hodgson has described the 3.1% average rail fares increase announced today as an 'outrage' from which Bedford rail users must be protected due to the unique array of failures and disruptions they have suffered. He also renewed his call on the government to freeze fares from Bedford
