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
Mayor Dave Hodgson has welcome the announcement of £4.6m of one-off funding for Bedfordshire Police, but asserted that it does not change the force's ongoing, severe shortage of annual funding. Noting that the Chief Constable has stated that the funding will help the force to cover the costs of activity already carried out in tackling gang, gun and knife crime, Mayor Dave has also pointed out that the money will not fund much-needed extra policing.
In a scathing report on the notorious May 2018 rail timetable changes which caused huge disruption to Bedford services, the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has called for commuters' to have their 2019 season tickets frozen at 2018 prices.
In a huge boost for local schools, Mayor Dave Hodgson has announced a victory for the campaign against the shock government funding cut for Bedford Borough's schools. Extra funding has been secured from the Department for Education, which will maintain the per-pupil funding rate for Bedford Borough's Schools for 2019/20.
Commenting on this week's Local Government Finance Settlement, which confirmed the severe ongoing Government cuts for local services, Mayor Dave Hodgson said that contrary to the Prime Minister's claims, 'austerity is most definitely not over for local services.'
