12 June 2026
Bedford Ian has been looking at recent goings on across Bedford Borough and tells us what he thinks of it all…
Citizen Smith
I was fascinated to learn this week of the existence of the “Cutcliffe Parking Liberation Front”, a group allegedly linked to vandalism targeting commuters’ cars parked on a road in Queens Park.
Read: Commuters’ cars vandalised by Queen’s Park parking vigilante group
Not a residents’ association or a campaign group. Not even a neighbourhood action committee.
A Liberation Front.
One assumes meetings are held in a secret location, with minutes recorded in code.
If there are any other members, perhaps they take turns to stand guard over a map of Cutcliffe Grove while discussing the struggle against the oppressive forces of family hatchbacks.
The sort of thing that sounds tremendously revolutionary until you remember the cause in question appears to be… people parking near a train station.
It’s all very Citizen Smith. a character who we all laughed at for his revolutionary ridiculousness.
Shortage of parking spaces is indeed annoying, but there is a world of difference between campaigning for change and taking it upon yourself to become Bedford’s answer to Batman.
We all know how well it went down the last time someone tried to do that.
Making threats, keying cars and slashing tyres is not sticking it to the man or community action.
It’s just vandalism.
I suspect it’s a lone loser with misdirected anger issues and a vastly inflated opinion of their own importance.
And while this self-appointed revolutionary may well see themselves as a freedom fighter in the great parking wars of Bedford, let’s hope the police manage to deal with them quickly before more damage is done.
Transport transparency
Irony is a wonderful thing.
After months of arguing that the Government wasn’t looking at the right information on road maintenance, Bedford may now find itself at the forefront of a much more transparent system.
It turns out that when you spend long enough telling people they haven’t got the full picture, sometimes they ask for more paint.
When Bedford was handed a controversial red rating for its roads, Mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) was among those questioning the data, the methodology and whether the Government really understood the state of Bedford’s highways.
Read: Government stands by Bedford’s “red” road rating despite mayor’s complaint
The Government has now responded, but not in the way perhaps the mayor and other council leaders across the UK may have hoped.
Instead, councils will now have to publish even more information about road conditions, pothole repairs and highways spending.
Read: Government tightens roads transparency rules after controversial Bedford red rating
But maybe the Mayor has got exactly what he asked for.
He said the Government needed more information before judging Bedford’s roads. The Government’s response appears to now be, “Fine. Show us everything.”
Italian Enough?
Depending on who you speak to, between one in five and one in seven (14,000apx.) Bedfordians have Italian heritage.
Which might lead you to think the recent announcement that Zizzi at Riverside North is giving away a free main course to Italians during the World Cup would be music to many local ears.
After all, Bedford’s Italian community is one of the town’s defining features.
When Italy does well in a major tournament, Russell Park and the Embankment can quickly transform into a sea of green, white and red.
Car horns become musical instruments, entire extended families appear from nowhere, and nobody gets much sleep.
There’s just one small catch.
The offer isn’t for people with Italian heritage.
It’s for people with Italian passports, and according to the 2021 census, only about 2,374 people in Bedford hold Italian citizenship.
So this promotion may not get Zizzi the chef’s kiss they were hoping for.
The promotion says: “While the Azzurri won’t be taking to the pitch this summer, we think there’s still plenty worth celebrating.
“That’s why we’re turning our restaurants into the unofficial home of Italian pride with Forza Italia, Forza Zizzi.”
But, while there are plenty of Bedfordians with Italian roots, Italian surnames, Italian grandparents, Italian businesses and Italian football allegiances, they’re apparently not quite Italian enough for a free plate of pasta.
The promotion has also prompted some interesting legal debate about whether nationality-based offers are wise, or indeed compatible with modern equality law. That’s probably one for the lawyers.
But from a Bedford perspective, it’s difficult not to be a little annoyed at the lack of forza-sight.
In a town famous for its Italian community, a promotion aimed at Italians may end up excluding quite a lot of them.
Tree-mendous
A member of the Progress Publishing team recently had a visitor from Newcastle who made an interesting observation about Bedford that might not always seem so obvious to some.
It wasn’t about the Embankment alongside the River Great Ouse, or the indie businesses, or the live music scene. It wasn’t about the culture, the people or the fact we’ll soon be one of the top tourist destinations in Europe.
No, she commented on the trees.
They said how green Bedford felt and how lucky we all are to have so many mature trees across the borough.
It was an interesting observation because trees aren’t usually the first thing people mention when talking about Bedford.
But perhaps that’s the point. Maybe we, or at least many of us, take our local trees for granted.
According to Bedford Borough Council, it manages more than 30,000 trees on public land alone, not including council-owned woodlands, nature reserves, and the many thousands more growing on private land.
Friends of the Earth estimates Bedford Borough has around 16 square miles of tree canopy cover.
That’s a lot of trees.
Sometimes it takes a visitor to remind us that things we’ve stopped noticing are actually rather special.
So while Bedfordians may continue to bemoan our rubbish roads, at least we can take comfort in the fact our trees are tremendous.
Bedford Borough Council hosts a number of tree walks and projects throughout the year. Find out more about them at the Council’s website.
See you soon,
Bedford Ian.
PS: If you see anything Bedford Ian might find amusing, let us know at news@BedfordIndependent.co.uk.
