This weekend Christmas arrives in Bedford.

The Christmas Fair will be in Bedford town centre on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of November, between 10am - 5pm with plenty to do with over 30 stalls, mulled wine and German sausages, as well as music, singing and dancing and character appearances from 'Transformers' Optimus Prime & Bumblebee and 'Anna & Elsa' from Frozen 2.

Liberal Democrat Councillor and Bedford Borough Council Executive Member for Adult Services Wendy Rider joined local retirees in Bedford to celebrate the grand opening of the new McCarthy and Stone 'Oakhill Place' development on High View.

Councillor Rider performed the ceremonial ribbon cutting at the new 'age-exclusive' development, which is on the site of the former Putnoe Lower School

Responding to the news about the Court of Appeal's rejection of Bedfordshire Against Covanta Incinerator's (BACI) challenge over the Environmental Permit for the Covanta Incinerator at Rookery Pit near Stewartby, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Elstow, Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick Tim Hill said:

Homelessness Awareness Week is coming up soon, and we have recently had the Bedford Homeless Partnership's Homelessness Conference and the Council's Housing Committee meeting, where every item was on homelessness.

Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a clear priority of Mayor Dave Hodgson and the Liberal Democrats on Bedford Borough Council, with a series of additional measures introduced to tackle the local impacts of this national crisis.

The candidates have now been announced for the General Election for the three parliamentary constituencies seats that Bedford Borough covers.

Bedford Constituency

• Charles Bunker - Brexit Party
• Ryan Henson - Conservative Party
• Adrian Spurrell - Green Party
• Henry Vann - Liberal Democrat Party
• Mohammed Yasin - Labour Party

Earlier this week Mayor Dave Hodgson met a number of businesses at Bedford's i-lab including Tappable, a mobile app developer that use a mixture of science, art, technology and storytelling, with a fundamental focus on user experience.

Mayor Dave Hodgson said "It was great to meet with so many businesses and discuss their current and future plans as well as seeing some of Tappable's new apps and I look forward to them coming to market soon.

Earlier today Mayor Dave Hodgson officially opened the new 3G pitch at Mark Rutherford School, provided by BAYS Sporting Facility.

The pitch will be a base for Bedford Park Rangers Youth Football Club and this will allow the club to grow and provide top class coaching to the young people of the area.