Liberal Democrat Councilor Surgeries
with Charles and Wendy
Avon Drive Shops Saturday 27 September 10.00am
Brickhill Drive Shops Saturday 11 October 10.00am
Avon Drive Shops Saturday 25 October 10.00am
You can also speak with us or another Lib Dem Councillor every Saturday morning 10.00am - 11.00 am at Bedford Central Library
No More Bricks in Brickhill
Liberal Democrats are calling on Mayor Tom Wootton and his Conservative administration to cancel plans to sell land off Ashmead Road known as Jackman's Farm in a multi million pound betrayal of our community. Cllr Charles Royden said ‘It is a scandal to sell our green open space to pay off the council debts caused by the Mayor’s vanity projects. Please sign our petition to help us fight this terrible attack on our countryside'.
Please click on this link to sign the petition
Together we can send a strong message that our community is opposed to this attack on our green open space in Brickhill.
Help us keep in touch
Please sign up for our emails and we will keep you updated with local information.
We won’t bombard you and you can unsubscribe at any time
Sign up here www.bedfordlibdems.org.uk/sign-up
How to make reports to Bedford Borough Council
We are often asked how residents can make reports to the council about things like flytipping, potholes or missed bin collections.
We have provided a page with some of the most frequently need contacts.
Click here for contacts to report to Bedford Borough Council
September News
Full Council Council Supports Reinstatement of Hawk Drive School Crossing Patrol. The school crossing patrol at Scott Primary School was cut done with less than 24hrs notice and without consultation with residents, councillors, the parish council or the school. Resdients signed out petition to have this reinstated and sent a clear message to the Mayor and his Executive to stop cutting essential services whilst wasting so much money on vanity projects like empty buildings. Sadly we have now heard that due to racking up a budget deficit of £14million the council is imposing a recruitment moratorium which will include school crossing patrols which are not considered a critical front line service. We are now paying the price in compromised safety for our children after two years of conservative financial waste and incompetence.
Most people are extremely pleased at the prospect of the opportunities which Universal will bring to Bedford. Mayor Dave Hodgson met with them some years ago and encouraged them to consider Bedford as the location for their investment. We met with Universal recently and one of the things which came out of the discussion was the employment opportunities. There will be as many as 28,000 jobs and 80% will be filled locally. You can register your interest here now for jobs already with Universal online.
Campaign Success
Charles and Wendy have campaigned for resurfacing after the growing number of potholes on Avon Drive. Works are now to take place from the junction with Bourneside and the roundabout with Waveney Avenue. The works will consist of resurfacing the carriageway and repairing kerbs, gullies and manholes. They have requested the reinstatement of the centre lining of the carriageway. Work will commence on 20 October and continue until 11 November. If you wish to discuss working arrangements relating to this project please telephone the Highways Helpdesk on 01234 718003 or email highways.helpdesk@bedford.gov.uk.
Please let us know if you have any difficulties during the works
Click here to see a plan of the works
Brickhill Roads and pavements
Need Investment - Now
Last year, not a single road in Brickhill was resurfaced. Apart from resurfacing on Avon Drive from the roundabout, yet again not a single residential road will be resurfaced during 2025/2026.
This brings to an end years of investment and resurfacing by Liberal Democrats. It leaves residents in roads such as Moriston Road, Humber Avenue, Ryton Close and Rhineland Way with no hope for the foreseeable future. Not a single pavement will be resurfaced in Brickhill in the coming year and only eight will be resurfaced in the entire Borough. We will continue to campaign for adequate funding to match the urgent needs of our road and pavement network.
Veteran Neil Kinselly has called for more investement
in our worn out pavements
We were shocked to learn that from 26 July Stagecoach number 51 service is to be withdrawn and there will be further cuts to other services across Bedford Borough from the 1 June. In the urban area, the Number 5 bus will terminate on Norse Road and no longer serve Waitrose/Lidl or the Caxton Road industrial Estate and the Number 7 bus is reduced to just hourly. The Service 9 circular service is being withdrawn and there is just one new service, Number 20, which will reach Priory Business Park. You can see the changed services on the Stagecoach website.
Service 7 to Woodside will from 1 June come up Kimbolton Road and turn into Rowallen Drive instead of Putnoe Lane. Although it will now be only every hour it starts around 06:00 to town to 23:30 from town and will be very useful for Brickhill residents in Kimbolton Road, Larkway. Dove Road and possibly further afield.
The conservatives have botched up the bus provision for Brickhill again. Having already lost one Grant Palmer Bus to Woodlands Park they have now made last minute changes to the contracts which has meant Grant Palmer will not longer be operating at all. Stagecaoch are supposed to take up the routes instead and we have a copy of the new timetable which you can see by clicking here. We have suffered the decline in the number 6 bus serving Brickhill which was once every 12 minutes but now only once every 20 minutes and 30 minutes on a Saturday. We have also lost a service to Woodlands Park altogether. We are concerned that the Conservative Mayor and the Conservative and Labour councillors that supported his budget are not doing enough to protect vital bus services for residents. They voted against ensuring expanded bus provision but millions are being spent on vanity projects.
Keeping Brickhill Tidy
We are grateful to volunteers who help with things like litter picking in Brickhill. Please let us know if you would like to help and we will get equipment for you.
We have asked the council to attend to street and pavement sweeping in Brickhill as many areas have still not had any sweeping of the leaves cleared from Autumn.
Brickhill Flooding
Flooding is now a frequent problem for many roads in Brickhill and we received requests from residents for advice. The Borough Council has extensive information on its website which advises residents of what to do and who to contact if they are concerned about flooding. Please visit
https://www.bedford.gov.uk/environmental-issues/emergencies/emergency-flooding
Exceptional rainfall has meant that areas previously unaffected have seen surface water issues. The map provides details of long term flood risk and it can accessed on the government website.
https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk
Check out the national Flood Map
BPHA Brickhill Flat Refurbishment
In January of last year, bpha received planning approval to refurbish the five high-rise blocks in Brickhill, these being Frampton, Upton, Evesham, Leighton, and Westbury Court on Avon Drive/Severn Way. Residents have already received copies of drawings and confirmation of the scope of works which we hope will start soon. We look forward to these major improvements.
Stop Telecare Charges
Thank you to all of those residents who supported our campaign to stop the telecare charges which had been proposed by the Mayor and his Executive. The proposal would have seen residents charged for their emergency personal alarm systems. The Mayor and his conservative executive had planned to charge over 2,000 vulnerable residents over £200 a year for the vital emergency helpline telecare service. Up to now it has been free for everyone to help support people to stay safe at home.
Telecare is a service that helps support people to live independently. Offering service users and their carers access to emergency help, should they need it, 24 hours a day. It is a vital service provided for some of the most vulnerable in our community. Lib Dems stopped the decision and raised a petition which received public support and sent a message to Mayor Wootton that this is not acceptable.
Avon Drive Roundabout Planting
Thank you to those residents who have been in touch to say how much they have appreciated the planting on the roundabout.
We have allocated ward funding for additional summer planting and we think it is money well spent in Brickhill.
Anti Social Behaviour
- Please continue to make us aware of any issues. We are always grateful to receive reports from residents and we will always respond to your concerns. If you are worried just call us and we will come and visit you. Our contact details are shown below, you can email, telephone or speak to us directly at our surgeries. You can also use the contact form on our website www.puttingbrickhillfirst.com. We always respond quickly - so phone us if there is any delay when using emails as they can go astray!
- Please will you also report incidents directly to the police. It is vital that these reports are made by you directly as this is the way to get the police to allocate resources. Residents have complained to us about long wait times when calling 101. We would recommend using the online reporting link below
https://www.beds.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb-v3/report-antisocial-behaviour/
When reporting dates, times and descriptions of vehicle/persons are most helpful as the police are often unable to attend the location immediately but can take action against the registered owners of the vehicles. Thank you for your assistance and please be assured that we will work with you and we will not allow our neighbourhood to become a place where this behaviour is tolerated. You are not alone and when we have become involved in other roads we have always manged to work with residents to bring problems to an end.
Parking Problems
Bedford Borough Council will issue fines (penalty charge notice or PCNs) for the following types of illegal parking:
- parking on yellow lines
- not displaying a valid parking ticket
- parking on pavements or verges where a restriction is in place
- parking across driveways
They will not get involved with neighbourly disputes or inconsiderate parking. If you think a vehicle is abandoned, please report it here.
To report an illegally parked vehicle, please contact the Enforcement Team on enforcement.team@bedford.gov.uk or 01234 718359. Or text only enforcement requests to 07553895403. An enforcement officer will respond to your request as soon as possible, but they may not be able to do so immediately if they are patrolling elsewhere in the Borough. Please note you won't get a reply about the outcome of an enforcement officer visit.
Pavement Repairs
Brickhill pavements are badly in need of resurfacing and repair. We have received some alarming photographs of injuries caused requiring hospital treatment. Please support us in or campaign and report any bad areas like this one in Tyne Crescent. Please report online as this adds weight to our campaign.
Click here to report pavement repairs to
Bedford Borough Council online
Adoption of Roads on Woodlands Park
Charles and Wendy are working with council officers to bring forward the adoption of roads in Woodlands Park from the developers. This is important in order to ensure that proper maintenance is taken over by the council. Click on the map opposite to download. If you would like an update on your road contact us direct using the contact form at the bottom of this page. Some roads are now just awaiting legal process others require additional works.
Tree Planting in Brickhill
We have asked for over 30 trees to be planted in Brickhill in this planting season and this has started. Some of these will replace diseased trees or ones which were removed because they were the wrong tree for the location and caused damage. If you have a request for a tree to be planted for next year ie 2025 please get in touch. If you have suffered damage from a council tree then you can request compensation. There is no information on this on the council website which we find quite odd, but you can outline your complaint in an email to InsuranceandRiskSection@bedford.gov.uk
Let us know if you have a problem!
Council Meetings
If you have an opportunity to watch the meetings of the full council you can do so
online Home - Bedford Borough Council streaming (public-i.tv)
Sadly the council is now led entirely by a Conservative Mayor and Conservative Executive,
with all other parties excluded and it is something of a shambles, which we fear will only get worse.
