monthl borough - microsoft...the dog had to be quarantined, which the owner couldn’t pay for, so...

Issue 43November 2019

Council joins Refill Bedford

see page 6

Save Time, Do It Online

see page 2

Robinson Pool & Fitness celebrates 50 years

see page 7

In this issue...

find out more on page 2...

Bedford Christmas Lights Switch-On and Fair!

BoroughMonthly

Bedford - An Inclusive Town

see page 3

Borough Monthly | November 2019

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Bedford Christmas Lights Switch-On and Fair!For the first time ever, Bedford’s Christmas lights switch-on took place over the weekend on Sunday, after the fun and frolics of the free Christmas fair.

Saturday 23 November and Sunday 24 November saw a Christmas fair take over Harpur Square. From 10am until 5pm on both days, the Square was full of food stalls and entertainment, with choirs, music and dance performances on the stage, balloon modelling and free fairground rides.

Over thirty craft traders were located on the Square and in the Harpur Suite, alongside seasonal stalls and local businesses. The Transformers visited on Saturday, and Anna and Elsa from ‘Frozen’ arrived on the Sunday.

This festive fun was followed by the fireworks show at 5.30pm on the Embankment with Father Christmas turning on the Christmas lights in Bedford.

The Christmas fair, lights switch-on and fireworks display was organised by Bedford Borough Council and supported by the Bedford Business Improvement District, funded by town centre businesses.

Save Time, Do It Online Bedford Borough Council is making it much easier for local residents to save time by offering lots more online options to access or report services at www.bedford.gov.uk.

Maybe you need to pay for a Council service, or you want to book a sports pitch, apply for a school place or tell the Council about a problem in your area. You can now do all of these things, and many more, online.

Lots of us are already doing our shopping and banking online, and these new changes will mean that residents can do lots more at a time to suit them. The services are designed to be easy to use on all devices - phones and tablets as well as laptops and PCs.

Support for those who need help to get online will continue to be available from the council’s Customer Services centre.


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Green Bin Collections

Bedford - An Inclusive Town

You don’t have to live in Bedford to adopt a

Bedford Borough ChildStart your adoption journey with us today

01234 718718Give us a call today Or drop us an email

[email protected]/adoption

Adoption in Bedford Borough

On Purple Tuesday (Tuesday 12 November), Bedford Borough Council and partners launched a survey to help inform a new Inclusive Town Charter.

Purple Tuesday was an international call to action, focused on changing the customer experience for disabled people. It involved organisations of all sizes and from all sectors taking decisive, practical actions to meet the needs of disabled customers.

Leading on the Charter will be the new 'Bedford- An Inclusive Town’ Group, which sees the Council working in partnership with Access Bedford, Autism Bedfordshire, Bedford BID, Bedford and District Access Group, Bedford and District Cerebral Palsy Society and the Harpur Centre.

The group are looking to introduce a Charter for local businesses. By signing, businesses will be making a lasting commitment to create a better experience for disabled customers, as well as their carers and families. This could be by dimming the lights and lowering the music at a specified time each week, training staff in BSL or having extra staff on hand to support customer needs.

Garden waste collections will soon be stopping for Winter, with the last green bin collection on Friday 29 November 2019. You can check your bin collection day and when your last green bin collection will be online at www.bedford.gov.uk/bins. Garden waste collections will start up again on 1 March 2020. Keep an eye out for the 2020 bin collection calendar, which will be available towards the end of November, to see planned changes to your collections over the Christmas period.


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‘Somewhere Safe to Stay’ in the heart of Bedford Town Centre

Services for people sleeping rough have increased with the opening of an ‘Assessment & Somewhere Safe to Stay’ Hub, in the heart of Bedford town centre.

The Hub is open 24 hours a day, offering emergency homelessness advice and somewhere safe for people who are sleeping rough to stay for a short time. Professional advice is also on offer from support services to help people find the best way back into a settled home.

Bedford has seen a reduction in the number of people sleeping rough on our streets, with the most recent Annual Rough Sleeper Estimate showing a third fewer people sleeping rough from 76 in November 2017 to 51 in November 2018. Recent figures report a further reduction with 37 people known to be sleeping on the street.

This reduction has followed innovative and proactive steps by the Council and its partners, including the opening of Clarence House,

providing support for those with the most complex needs, more outreach support encouraging vulnerable people to accept help, and additional accommodation.

To access the Hub, people who are rough sleeping or are at imminent risk of homelessness will be referred by visiting the Housing Options Team at the Council, the SMART Prebend Centre, the Nightshelter or any of Bedford’s Rough Sleeper Outreach Services. The SMART Prebend Centre will also continue to provide a Day Centre service.

Once referred to the Hub, they will then be assigned a ‘Navigator’ and support worker who will be their continued points of contact throughout their journey into settled accommodation and independence. The Navigator will help them with all aspects of their journey to finding a home; advising them about their rights, helping them to access support services and finding the right kind of housing.

REAL CHANGE

If you can spare any time, items or money please go to WWW.BEDFORDHOMELESS.ORG.UK to donate. Every penny you give will go towards helping rough sleepers build a life away from the streets.

Your small change could make a real change.

Help end homelessness in Bedford.


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A new dog can make a great addition to the family, but the Council is warning local residents to be cautious and carry out checks after we received reports of illegal puppy trading.

Bad dealers and breeders are selling puppies that are too young, imported from other countries, without the appropriate vaccinations and the right paperwork. This can result in the puppies being quarantined and not allowed to be with their new owners.

The Dogs Trust also has grave concerns about the welfare of the puppies caught in the illegal dog trade, with unsuspecting families left picking up the pieces when they just want to give a puppy a home.

Locally, the Council is aware of one individual who bought a bichon frise puppy online for £700. The puppy was only three months old, had not been vaccinated against rabies or microchipped. As a result, the dog had to be quarantined, which the owner couldn’t pay for, so the dog was given to The Dogs Trust to be treated, made legal and rehomed. The owner lost both the dog and their money.

The Dog’s Trust offer the following advice when looking to buy a new puppy, including:

Buying a new puppy? Here’s some helpful advice from The Dog’s Trust

Always…

• Ask to see mum and pup together• Ask the breeder lots of questions• Expect a breeder to quiz you too• Visit your new pup more than once• Get all your pup’s paperwork before you

take them home• Walk away if you have doubts, or feel

pressure to buy• Report suspicious online sellers or breeders

to Trading Standards

Never…

• Meet somewhere that isn’t the pup’s home• Buy a pup from anyone selling multiple

breeds of dog• Buy a pup that looks small and underweight• Buy a pup that you suspect has been

imported illegally

Find further advice on their website at www.dogstrust.org.uk

01234 228154 [email protected]@

• Posters and Flyers• Business Cards• Leaflets• Letterheads/

Compliment Slips

• Brochures• Duplicate/Triplicate

Carbonless Pads• Envelopes• Vinyl banners

• Large Posters (up to A0 size)

• Promotional Items• Pop Up Display

Stands

and much more! ...literally anything you want printing, we can do it!

Do you need help with design? Want to get something printed?Use Bedford Borough Council’s ICT Design & Repro Team


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Council joins Refill BedfordThe Council has signed up as a Refill Station,

joining Refill Bedford in creating a network of local places where people can fill up their reusable water bottle for free.

‘Refill’ is a nationwide campaign working to connect people with thousands of local businesses, community venues, transport hubs and public fountains where they can refill for free, supported by a ‘Refill App’ to show people where they can refill on the go.

It is estimated that a million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, and plastic bottles make up a third of all plastic pollution in the sea. This has to stop. Bedford Borough Council has declared a Climate Emergency, is working to become ‘single-use’ plastic free by the end of 2020, and is joining this growing movement to take action against plastic pollution.

Find out more and download the Refill App at www.refill.org.uk

The A6 Wilstead Bypass Reconstruction – an update

The completion date for the project to rebuild the A6 past Wilstead has been delayed to March 2020, after on-site testing revealed that more works are required than originally thought.

This stretch of road was originally built in the 1970s, but had become too dangerous for normal road use after its foundations had collapsed.

Extensive work on the project has already been completed, including the removal of the existing road surface and kerbs along with a large section of the underlying concrete layer, and the start of the removal of the old road foundations. The existing drainage ditches have also been cleared, and work has begun to install a new drainage system along the whole length of road.

Over the next few weeks, work will continue to build the new road from the Luton Road direction and the new drainage system will be completed.

Since the Council and the contractors

undertook on-site testing it has become apparent that the existing pipe system is not fit for purpose and is in a much worse state than indicated in pre-works surveys and testing. It was found that the wrong type of pipe was used in the original construction and that there were unsealed joints between the pipes. This means that the ground has been saturated with water over the years which caused movement in the road and the large cracks that had been appearing in the road surface.

As a result, the design has had to change to ensure the strength of the new road foundation, with more failed material having to be removed than was expected, and more extensive repairs to the drainage system required. This extra work means the whole project will take longer, with an expected completion date of the end of March 2020.


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Robinson Pool & Fitness celebrates 50 years in styleBedford’s oldest publically-owned swimming pool ‘Robinson Pool & Fitness’ has celebrated 50 years since it first opened in Bedford Park. The birthday celebrations on Saturday 26 October included something for everyone, no matter their age. The fun packed schedule featured gym and group exercise taster sessions, health assessments, a Swim School gala and a diving display. To commemorate the special day, the first 50 lucky members to arrive received a voucher pack to the value of £50 and non-members were able to upgrade to a great value membership for just £50 for the rest of the year.

In 2016, Robinson Pool & Fitness received a significant investment with a major makeover including an upgraded gym, new exercise and indoor cycling studios, INTENCITY HIIT studio and a new café as well as new wet changing rooms and refreshed swimming pools. Since the investment, members have been enjoying the upgraded gym with a choice of cardiovascular equipment including new treadmills, bikes, rowers and cross trainers, as well as new fixed resistance machines, plus free weights and functional equipment. At Bickles Yard café, there’s an array of healthy food, snacks and hot and cold drinks on offerand the pools continue to offer a great range of swimming sessions for all - not forgetting the Swim School for children and adults.

Rob Jennings, Business Manager at Fusion Lifestyle, commented: "We're delighted we’ve been able to celebrate this landmark occasion in style. We'd like to thank all members and visitors for coming along. Bedford Borough Council and Fusion Lifestyle are committed to providing top quality services to the public and hope they agree that the centre is a much cherished and important facility that offers something for everyone. Here’s to the next 50 years!"

Mindful YogaJoin Robinson Pool and Fitness from 8.15pm every Wednesday for gentle, beginner level yoga for adults experiencing anxiety, stress, insomnia and other mental-health related conditions. £3 per one-hour session, just turn up and pay on the day.

Don’t forget for regular, timely information on the Council, you can follow us on Twitter @bedfordtweets, Facebook @bedfordboroughcouncil and via our website, www.bedford.gov.uk.

Stay Connected!


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Are you over 65?

Do you have a long term condition?

Are you pregnant?

Are you a carer?

Is your child between the age of 2 and 4?

Ask at your local GP practice or pharmacy about your free flu jab.

nhs.uk/staywell Cheril Sowell, Nurse

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