I am pleased to be able to confirm the start date of the Free Parking Deal, and to confirm new late car park openings we are bringing in to support the night-time economy in Bedford Town Centre. The Free Parking Deal will start on November 23rd, after legally-required consultation on the changes to arrangements. So, it will be in place in time for the all-important Christmas shopping period for our town centre traders.
The topic of my latest monthly article for the Times and Citizen newspaper was the Free Parking Deal, our initiative to follow our three successive years of shoppers' car park freezes with two hours' free parking in Bedford town centre on Saturdays from November 23rd. In it, I suggested that while Bedford has been quietly bucking the trend with our frozen charges for shoppers, rising footfall and falling shop vacancy rate, perhaps it's time to be a bit noisier in promoting our town and all it has to offer. If you didn't see the article, here it is in full:
The fight to protect frontline services here in Bedford Borough in the face of the unprecedented, extraordinary funding crisis...
Recently I popped along to the Embankment to have a look at the historic balustrades, which we are repairing and renewing as part of a £50,000 investment to preserve this landmark feature of Bedford Town Centre.
As has been widely reported, rural bus services elsewhere across the country have faced drastic cuts in the face of the unprecedented reduction in funding for local authorities. While we are obviously contending with those same cuts in our funding, we have fought to protect rural bus services and have introduced new and improved routes, so it was pleasing to hear that those new services were singled out for praise at the recent National Transport Awards.
With Armistice Day approaching, I will shortly be posting information here about some of the many Remembrance events taking place across the Borough. Firstly, though, I want to highlight the fact that once again there is a Poppy Shop in the centre of town, in The Harpur Centre, which was opened by the Deputy Mayor Cllr Charles Royden. Thanks are due to the Harpur Centre for once again making a unit available for the poppy shop, and of course to Angela Parker who runs the shop with the support of a number of dedicated volunteers.
