21 March 2025
Bedford Ian has been looking at recent goings on across Bedford Borough and has told us what he thinks of it all.
Is that you, Mr Wayne?
Bedford could soon have its own Batman and Justice League if local businessman Peter McCormack has anything to say about it.
He is disappointed with how crime is being handled in the town centre, and it seems quite a few people agree with him too.
Read: Bedford business owner tells Bedfordshire Police ‘tackle crime or we’ll do it ourselves’
So, he’s given Bedfordshire Police a deadline to show they’re addressing the issues and providing a clear, effective plan to tackle crime or he’ll do it himself.
Well, maybe not himself exactly, he says he’ll create a private security team to do that, which he is entitled to do under Section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE).
A top cop at Bedfordshire Police has hit back promising that tackling crime in Bedford town centre is an established priority for the force and that there has been a reduction in various crimes due to various operations in the area.
Even so, we recommend local comic book store Close Encounters stock up on superhero costumes just in case.
Cement over the problem
There was much praise for the Borough’s local flood resilience groups at this week’s Climate Change Committee, and rightly so.
The groups are made up of volunteers who live in flood-prone areas, particularly in communities where residents may feel overwhelmed or unsure of where to begin when a flood hits.
As named members of the group they act as a go-between the council and their neighbours to make sure resources are diverted to where it’s needed during flooding, and in some areas can help erect ‘road closed’ signs to help reduce disruption.
A noble and appreciated effort and all who are in current flood resilience groups or will be in one in the future deserve our thanks.
What’s got me though is the fact they’re even needed.
While climate change, which has created more rainfall across the UK needs tackling globally, locally there’s much that can be done to prevent flooding.
As someone in the Protect Kempston’s Flood Plain Facebook group pointed out, ‘not building on floodplains would be a good start’. Let’s hope planning decision-makers are listening.
Speed demons
It looks like the rumours that average speed cameras in some parts of the Borough not being ‘on’ all the time are true.
After what looked like a particularly nasty crash along The Embankment this weekend, Cllr Lucy Bywater (Green, Castle and Newnham) called for proper enforcement of average speed cameras along the road which carries a 20mph limit.
Read: Calls to upgrade Embankment speed camera enforcement with suggestions not enough tickets issued
Cllr Nicola Gribble (Independent, Renhold and Ravensden), portfolio holder for environment confirmed that 54 speeding tickets were issued in January and that she believed there should be more considering the number of vehicles that use the road.
So, two things stick out here.
1, The cameras installed at great expense to the local taxpayer don’t actually do what they’re supposed to be doing for much of the time.
2, We expect a certain number of people to break the law. So, someone somewhere will have worked out what the average return on investment of each camera will be. Which would be great if we got the money for local use, but it all goes to central government.
This harks back to November 2024, when Paul Pace, chief officer (environment) told the committee there are over 40 average speed camera sites across the borough and some, at the time, weren’t working as they were upgraded.
In that same meeting, it was confirmed that Bedfordshire Police were being asked to enforce the average speed cameras along the Embankment.
Read: Councillor questions whether town speed cameras are “enforced”
We were told then that an update would be forthcoming so I’ve asked our editorial colleagues to now look into it and find out who is responsible for making sure these cameras are doing what they were paid for to do.
As Cllr Bywater points out, “There are some who seem to know they can get away with it”. It seems to me that if the cameras aren’t doing their job, a more serious accident could well be on its way.
See you soon, Bedford Ian.
PS: If you see anything Bedford Ian might find amusing, let us know at news@BedfordIndependent.co.uk.
