The Council's 'Number 13' building on St Paul's Square is the new home for 'Made in Bedford' in Bedford's town centre.

'Made in Bedford' is an established movement promoting the work of local artists, designers, makers and producers. Working in partnership with Bedford Borough Council, this new venture will see a shop, café and art display space at Number 13. Number 13 will continue to operate as a bar and box office during performances at Bedford Corn Exchange.

Mayor Dave Hodgson will be appearing at the final mayoral election hustings later this week, at Bedford Blues Rugby Club on Goldington Road on Thursday 18th April.

The event is jointly hosted by BBC Three Counties Radio and the Bedford Independent, with BBC 3CR's drivetime presenter Roberto Perrone chairing proceedings. The hustings will be broadcast live on Roberto's drivetime show, commencing at 5:30pm and concluding at 7pm. It will also be live streamed on Facebook.

In his latest regular email, Mayor Dave Hodgson has looked back at his record on protecting our local and wider environment, which includes halving Council carbon emissions thanks to a range of bold and effective action. He also looked ahead and his target of zero carbon by 2030 and his commitment to measures including scrapping all single-use plastics from across the Council, and installing 300 new electric vehicle charging points at 150 sites

The Sunday Times has featured Bedford in its 'Best Places to Live' supplement, naming it in the top three places to live in the East of England. In a write-up full of resounding praise for the town and the surrounding area, it states that Bedford offers 'a great family-friendly lifestyle and first-class transport links.'

In his latest monthly column for the Bedford Independent, Mayor Dave Hodgson has written of the benefits of his plans for the Prebend Street Relief Road and other schemes in tackling congestion and improving quality of life for local residents.

He also notes that the relief road and the long list of congestion-busting works taking place under his Transporting Bedford 2020 programme will be a boost for local jobs and the economy, helping Bedford Borough to maintain the stunning jobs growth which has dramatically outstripped regional and national rates since Mayor Dave was elected.

Mayor Dave Hodgson has slammed the Government after the arrangements published this week for the new intercity rail franchise confirmed the Conservatives' removal of Bedford from its historic place on the Intercity Rail network.

Mayor Dave had warned previously of the Govenrment's plans to downgrade Bedford station by removing intercity services and replacing them with commuter-style services which run between Corby and London. Local Conservatives accused him of scaremongering over rail services, only for the final franchise specification and then this week's franchise announcement confirming the Tories' downgrade decision.

Mayor Dave Hodgson has thanked everyone who attended the Bedfordshire Climate Change Forum's mayoral election hustings on Wednesday night, following a debate in which Mayor Dave discussed his record of cutting Council carbon emissions by half, and his plan to target zero carbon by 2030.

Commenting after the event, Mayor Dave thanked the BCCF and everyone who came out to the well-attended hustings for what he described as a 'really good debate on the issues'.

The New Statesman has put the focus on the Bedford Borough Mayoral elections in a newly-published article which notes the Council's 'remarkable success story compared with the neighbouring Conservative-run Northamptonshire county council'.

The piece includes comments from Mayor Dave Hodgson, who comments on the massive ongoing government funding cuts being suffered by councils. He adds that Bedford Borough has avoided the financial crises and collapses seen elsewhere by "keeping very tight control over our budget".