25 September 2026
Bedford Ian has been looking at recent goings-on across Bedford Borough and tells us what he thinks of it all…
It’s fixed
The leak is fixed. Yes, that leak. Finally.
Read: Anglian Water refuses to face questions over four-year Kempston leak losing 540 litres an hour
Anglian Water’s engineers turned up at 12:30 on Wednesday (23 September), and got it fixed.
It took about four hours. Four hours to sort something that’s been dragging on for four years.
Mr Campbell, one of the two homeowners fighting to get the leak fixed, said that when they exposed it, “water was absolutely gushing out. Think of a garden tap fully opened; water was coming out like that,” he said.
But this wasn’t just about a leak. As you can see in the picture sent to our newsdesk, water shows no mercy when it comes to eroding soil, rock, and anything else in its way.
Anglian Water’s ignorance of Mr Campbell and his neighbour has been nothing short of disgraceful, and the impacts of this leak so close to a home’s foundations could be far worse than a simple hole in the ground.
According to Mr Campbell, “You could fit a couple of adults in there easily.” Apparently, it should have been filled today; we’re awaiting an update.
A big thanks, of course, to the Anglian Water engineers who finally got it fixed; this isn’t their fault, and they brave all weather and conditions to patch a network neglected by bad management decisions.
Perhaps some of their shareholders and executives could join them in some of those wet, muddy holes and see for themselves the issues their greed is causing.
Culture vultures
One of my colleagues was given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the new exhibition at the Higgins Bedford this week. Rhyme and Reason opens today (Friday) and the 70 works on display are all drawn from the remarkable Cecil Higgins collection.
The museum (formerly the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery) originally opened in 1949 to house the collection assembled by Bedford brewer Cecil Higgins (1856-1941) ‘for the benefit, interest and education of the inhabitants of and visitors to Bedford.’
Right on our doorstep, we can see works of art by JMW Turner, Gainsborough, Paula Rego, Rossetti and more, all completely free.
What an incredible legacy to have left to our town. One wonders if future generations will look back on the ‘Great Debenhams Debate’ of the early 21st century with such nostalgic fondess.
Parking payday
We’ve had a couple of stories about poor parking recently, one with people parking in disabled bays when they don’t have a disability and another with people double parking on residential streets when they have no brains.
Read: Delivery drivers and a parent prosecuted in Bedford Blue Badge crackdown
Read: Council will target irresponsible parking in streets near Putnoe rugby ground
It occurred to me that while these drivers are indeed the lowest form of intelligence and selfish parking needs to be stopped, maybe there’s some cash to be made in the meantime.
With the council struggling to make ends meet, let’s give a few more people the power to issue parking fines and head to all the places listed across social media by frustrated residents.
If the numbers of cars, vans and anything else with an engine being parked haphazardly are to be believed, by this time next year, Rodney…
See you soon,
Bedford Ian.
PS: If you see anything Bedford Ian might find amusing, let us know at news@BedfordIndependent.co.uk.
