Ofsted has published its annual assessment of Bedford Borough Council's Children's Services, delivering an extremely positive report and increasing the Borough's overall grade from a 2 to a 3 - 'performing well' - on the 4-point scale.
I am delighted that amongst the announcements in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement earlier today came a commitment from the Government to the delivery of the Western Section of the East-West railway line, between Bedford and Oxford via Milton Keynes.
If you have been in Bedford Town Centre today, it may have caught your attention that a helter skelter has popped up at the junction of Midland Road and Harpur Street, near Marks and Spencers. This can of course mean only one thing... that's right, the Victorian Christmas Fair is back, with a huge range of festive stalls and activities for the whole family from tomorrow through to Sunday 11th December.
Talking to residents across the different parts of the Borough, it is clear that a common concern for our communities is speeding traffic. Speeding motorists can blight our neighbourhoods, endangering themselves and other road users and pedestrians. I have made tackling speeding in our communities a priority, and am committed to taking real action to make our roads safer. I've launched a Speed Limit Review which is likely to see a string of problem roads, especially those in residential areas, have limits reduced. We are also looking into the use of average speed cameras which would be easy to move at short notice to tackle speeding hotspots and make a real difference in bringing speeds down and taking enforcement action. Talking of enforcement action, this is of course the responsibility of the police, and I am working with the police to ensure effective enforcement takes place across the borough.
As I've written here previously, as I talk to residents across the Borough it is striking how often the issue of speeding traffic on our residential roads comes up as a primary concern of people in all of our communities. Key to bringing speeds down to safer levels is of course enforcement, and while this is a police responsibility we are working with the police and the Chief Constable has reassured me that he shares effective enforcement as a priority. As far as the Council is concerned, we oversee speed limits on local roads across the Borough, in consultation with the police, and in response to the number of concerns raised with me I launched a review of speed limits across the Borough last year.
As the internet becomes more and more central to both our working lives and personal lives, the availability of fast, reliable broadband connections is of ever greater importance to households and businesses. Many residents, particularly in our rural communities, and businesses have stressed to me what a positive difference improved broadband connections would make to them. Rather than wait and cross our fingers that the commercial broadband providers will make the full investment required to bring improved broadband speeds for all at some point in the future, we are working proactively to bring in external investment as soon as possible.
