Bedford Borough Council has announced the launch of the 'Enviro-Hub' project based in Kempston.

Enviro-Hub's make it easier for people to volunteer and keep their local community clean, by making litter-picking equipment available to borrow without having to plan ahead.

The Enviro-Hub has been launched following a successful bid to WRAP's Litter Innovation Fund (the charity behind the 'Recycle Now' initiative), and the project is running in partnership with Fusion at Kempston Pool. The Litter Innovation Fund looks for new ways of reducing and preventing litter and littering.

Holocaust Memorial Day is the international day to remember those killed under Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

This Day is commemorated on 27th January, the date on which Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. This was the most infamous of the Nazi camps where over 1.1million people were murdered, over 90% of them Jewish.

Bedford Borough Council is drafting in additional pothole crews to help keep on top of pothole repairs this winter.

Roads across Bedford Borough are becoming damaged, with gritting salt, fluctuating temperatures, and surface water following heavy rains all playing their part, and the Council has seen a high number of potholes and road defects appearing in a short space of time.

2020 has arrived which means it is River Festival year here in Bedford Borough.

There are so many things that visitors to the ever-popular River Festival can expect to see and do at Bedford's biggest event, returning on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July 2020.

Bedford River Festival is one of the largest outdoor events of its kind, with around a quarter of a million visitors expected at this free Festival on our beautiful river and Embankment.

This week, the Council published the Budget proposals for 2020 -2021, which will be discussed at next week's Executive meeting and then the next Full Council meeting.

We will be proposing a balanced budget despite facing the need for additional savings at the same time as we are seeing an increase in demand for services.

We have sought to keep increases in council tax as low as possible, with an increase of 1.85% in Bedford Borough's core council tax.

The proposals will also include applying the government's Adult Social Care precept of 2%. We believe the government should provide more funding directly to help tackle the social care crisis, but unfortunately they insist these costs are passed on to council taxpayers.

These increases mean an increase of less than £5 a month for an average Band D property.

In addition there will be increases from Bedfordshire Police, Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue and local parish and town councils where they levy a precept.

These increases are necessary to ensure we can continue protecting frontline services and supporting the most vulnerable in Bedford Borough.

We will also be investing additional money in road and pavement resurfacing as well as other investment in improving our infrastructure and providing emergency accommodation for those facing homelessness.

Despite the ongoing financial challenge this budget protects frontline services and, provides the money needed to care for the elderly and vulnerable and keeps council tax down.

We continue to bid for various money for other projects to help support our town centres and other significant projects. Whilst town centres are suffering across the country, in Bedford Borough we continue to do as much as we can to support our local shops; leisure, heritage and cultural facilities and encourage more people to use both Bedford and Kempston town centres as well as their village shops.

The Chair of Bedford Borough Council's Planning Committee has hailed the adoption of the Bedford Borough Local Plan as a major boost for its work in supporting, protecting and enhancing local communities. Councils are required to produce a Local Plan to show where and how development will take place.

Following news that the Beales chain of department stores is in severe difficulty in a further illustration of the national crisis for the UK's high streets, Bedford Borough Council's Executive Member for Town Centres Councillor Henry Vann has reaffirmed the authority's commitment to helping Bedford town centre and its businesses to thrive.

The Jobs Hub will, in partnership with its local training providers, be holding an Employment and Skills Information Day on the 20th January at the Queens Park Neighbourhood Centre.

The event will bring together a range of providers offering free training and skills provision as well as employability support to help people get into work and education.