Plastic Free Bedford is organising the first Sustainability Festival for Bedford, Kempston and the surrounding areas.

The event will take palce between 9-23 May and promises to be jam-packed full of eco-events.

If you are interested in organising an event, please contact Bedford.nomoreplastic@outlook.com by 11 March.

Proposals to transform one of the East of England's busiest roads have received strong backing from members of the public responding to a recent consultation.

Highways England is proposing to replace the Black Cat roundabout in Bedfordshire with a new, free-flowing junction and create a new 10-mile dual carriageway linking it to a redesigned Caxton Gibbet junction, replacing the only remaining section of single carriageway between Milton Keynes and Cambridge and tackling one of the region's most notorious congestion hotspots.

The East West Rail Company is holding a number of consultation events open to the public to discuss the next steps for the railway, these will include an opportunity to have you say about the exact route of East West Rail.

There are currently five consultation events planned in Bedford Borough. Mayor Dave Hodgson has asked that additional consultations be held in Bedford, near the railway station, and in Brickhill.

'Reading Well for Children' has been launched by The Reading Agency and Libraries Connected to support children's mental health and wellbeing, and is now available at Bedford Central, Kempston and Putnoe libraries.

This booklist is aimed at children aged 7-11, and has titles suitable for a range of reading levels.

Reducing carbon emissions is important. Bedford Borough has led on this in many respects, and indeed won awards. We need to do more and we need to do it quickly.

It is clear to see why action needs to be taken, we have all seen the fantastic David Attenborough documentaries and most nights the news tells us about this latest climate horror stories facing our planet. We, in Bedford Borough, need to play our part.

Back in 2011, Mayor Dave Hodgson announced our target to reduce the council's carbon emissions by 40 per cent, via our bold Carbon Management Plan. We sometimes referred to it as an 'aspirational' target, and certainly if felt daunting at the time. We have so far reduced carbon emissions in council buildings by 62%!

A popular craft project linking stories to our past is set to return to Bedfordshire Archives.

The Weaving Narratives project invites people to use the archives as inspiration to create textile works. When the project was first run, four years ago, both amateur and professional textile artists successfully created an amazing range of pieces. With new archives added to the collections all the time the projects return has been welcomed.

The Council is tackling unlicensed shared houses - or 'Houses in Multiple Occupation' (HMOs) across Bedford Borough.

The Council is running a project targeting any remaining unlicensed HMOs, or shared houses, in Bedford Borough. The Council will seek to prosecute or issue Civil Penalty Notices of up to £30,000 per offence on non-compliant owners who have failed to either apply for a licence or have failed to be granted one due to not meeting the Council's minimum standards.

Bedford Borough Mayor Dave Hodgson, this week launched the All Age Skills Plan.

The Plan identifies keys areas of activity allowing Bedford Borough and its partners to invest in the right skill sets for the future and will ensure no-one is left behind as Bedford's economy changes.

Mayor Dave said "Bedford Borough already has an above average rate of employment and a skilled workforce. However, there are skills shortages and the All Age Skills Plan will ensure that our workers have the necessary skills and qualifications to allow them to benefit from the jobs and opportunities created by business growth and inward investment."