Bedford Borough Labour Group is first and foremost concerned with the needs and wants of residents of the Borough, not in scoring political points and blocking every move the administration proposes.
Like other residents, we want to see progress and improvements to our towns and villages. However, we have always said we will hold the Conservative Executive to account.
We will do so and have wasted no time in calling out mistakes like the potential axing of the River Festival or the proposal for borrowing huge sums for a new leisure village – which the consultant’s report they commissioned on leisure services proved was not necessary.
Therefore, some residents may be surprised that the Labour Group voted with the Conservative administration to confirm the budget for 2025-2026 at recent meetings of Full Council.
When looking at whether we would support the budget, we wanted to make sure we were comfortable with the borrowing it necessitated and to this end invited the Chief Finance Officer to one of our regular Labour Group meetings to give their expert opinion on the questions and concerns we raised.
We also spoke with members of the Executive, some of whom also met with our Group to listen to our suggestions for projects and our priorities.
Our support included the following projects and we’ll be keeping a close eye on them to make sure they progress:
- the refurbishment of Kempston and Robinson Pools
- refurbishment of the Corn Exchange
- works to bring the property at Bunyan Road in Kempston back into use as a Children’s Home
- the provision of 16+ independent living in Bedford
- the expansion of Secondary and Primary Schools throughout the Borough
- the development of the Muslim Cemetery
- funding for the Primary Care Estate
- B531 Footway Improvements; the building of Wixams Station
- improvements to The Grange in Addison Howard Park
There are also plans for a fully accessible Back Channel bridge that connects Kempston with the Great Denham footpath.
These are all projects local people will benefit from, and we want to see them and other proposed projects completed as soon as possible.
Whilst we supported the budget and very much welcomed the record investment in Rivertree Special School in Kempston, we were deeply disappointed at the lack of communication with local councillors and residents throughout the whole project.
Poor communication with Ward Councillors about events and projects in their Wards is something that is an ongoing issue and needs to be addressed by the Portfolio Holders.
Finally, there is a new Council Tax exemption for Bedford Borough foster carers which is especially welcome and we hope it will encourage people to foster through the Borough Council – details of how to are at Fostering | Bedford Borough Council.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Cllr Carl Meader, leader of Bedford Borough Labour Group.
It is published unedited and does not reflect the
views of the Bedford Independent.
