Council will not get a hole lot of sympathy

One thing councils are very bad at is sharing the misery. Only one, I hear you say.

To be fair they are having a tough time like the rest of us.

Yet too often there is one rule for them and another for us. The borough council, like most other councils, has a mass of potholes to repair.

This follows one of the worst winters most of us can remember.

We understand this is not a quick fix and will take some time. But our goodwill and patience is severely tested when they repair their own car park – at a cost of nearly £40,000 – first.

Having such free car parks is a bonus in the first place but getting them repaired before the public roads is beyond a joke.

This follows on from the fact that we revealed half the public car parking space in the town is allocated to council employees, free of charge.

This grates on two counts: one that we have to pay and council staff do not and two we are constantly being told to leave our cars at home.

Perhaps that is so they can have all the car parking space to themselves.

I fully accept that, with the credit crunch, many of the grand schemes have had to be put on hold but the traffic situation in Bedford is appalling and anything that can help should be shoved up the agenda.

While matters that do not help, such as the council looking after the council first, are shoved down the agenda.

Perhaps, in the new openness we have been promised, we can see how much cash is available and then look at how it should be spent. Not everything has to cost a fortune.

I am all for park and ride schemes but would it not make sense for the council to take a lead, rather than not practice what it preaches in so spectacular a fashion.

Decent cycleways would also help the problem. At the moment they appear and disappear more often than the Cheshire Cat.

I know cyclists do not help their cause by often not using them where they do exist but a much improved cycle route system would help the traffic, the environment and people’s health.

If there are plans to pedestrianise part of the High Street then it might be an idea to discuss how that will affect traffic.

These issues are not just so Bedfordians can travel around the town more easily but have an impact on visitors and therefore commerce. Attractive towns attract visitors, but only if they can get to them safely and easily.


He was complaining that we wrote too many stories about Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre and the centre was of no interest to local people.

I begged to differ then and beg to differ now. This is a case of an appalling Government failure that no-one seems to know how to solve. I have spoken to the main parties over Yarl’s Wood and it will remain much as it is whoever comes to power at the next General Election.

All it is supposed to be is a centre from where failed asylum seekers are deported.

Yet it is much more like a prison, often for people, especially children, who have committed no crime.

There is even a court attached to the centre where appeals are heard, and generally dismissed.

The centre does no good and serves little useful purpose. Yet it will remain, a blot on the Bedfordshire landscape and the conscience of a supposedly tolerant society.

Where my disaffected reader may have a point is that none of the coverage, on a constant stream of injustices and heartrending decisions, has had the least impact on Government, or opposition, policy.