Central Bedfordshire Council

🌿 Don’t need your garden waste bin next year? Let us know! If you’re not planning to sign up for the garden waste collection subscription service in 2025, you can now request the removal of your unused green garden waste bin. 📅 Deadline to request bin removal: 10 January 2025. 🗓️ Bin collection dates: Bins will be collected across Central Bedfordshire in two phases, between 6 and 31 January 2025. 👉 Find out more and fill out the quick online form: https://ow.ly/8B3550UiRfb

Fake address costs private hire operator over £2,000 A man who gave a false address in Central Bedfordshire to apply for a Private Hire Operators licence has had to pay costs of over £2,000. The matter came to light when unsuspecting residents at the bogus address contacted us, puzzled by a licensing letter they had received. Under the law, anyone applying for a private hire operator's licence must provide a legitimate local operating address to ensure we can carry out necessary checks. Mr O’Neal attended Luton Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to two offences, one under the Fraud Act 2006 and one under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. He was fined £200 for each offence and ordered to pay £160 victim surcharge and £1,657 towards costs, bringing his total penalty to £2,217.

🚛 Share your views on our draft Freight Strategy 🚛 Our draft Freight Strategy sets out our updated approach to managing freight movements in Central Bedfordshire to support the freight and logistics sector, whilst minimising the negative impacts movements can have on residential communities, and to encourage freight activity to be as sustainable as possible. Consultation on this draft strategy will close for comments at 10am, Friday 20 December 2024. To read our draft Freight Strategy and let us know your thoughts on it, visit: https://ow.ly/EXKJ50U2YM0

Selling illegal vaping devices and counterfeit cigarettes has cost a Dunstable retailer over £4,600. Queensway News, located at 15 Queensway in Dunstable, was investigated following complaints and intelligence received. On 14 March 2024, our enforcement officers seized 1,191 illegal vapes and 140 packets of counterfeit cigarettes during a visit to the store. The case was heard at Luton Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 22 November 2024, where Mr. Kamal Tahidi, the Director of Queensway News, pleaded guilty to a total of 11 offences. He was fined £380, ordered to pay court costs of £4,096, and a victim surcharge of £153, bringing the total to £4,632. The seized products were also ordered to be destroyed. To report concerns about counterfeit or illegal vaping products email trading.standards@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, or report online https://lnkd.in/ekE9s7mz

Introducing our first Mockingbird foster family! We're thrilled to launch the Mockingbird pilot in Central Bedfordshire. This innovative foster care model creates supportive ‘constellations’ – small, close-knit groups of foster carers who help each other thrive through shared experiences, peer support, and activities. This community-based approach offers foster carers greater support and builds a village of stability and security for children in care. Meet the amazing team making this happen – our first ‘mockingbird family’ (pictured): 🧡 Hub Carer: Lucy 💚 Satellite Carers: Sam, Suzi, Sandra, Kirsty, Alison, Nicole, Munyiva , Clair & Rob, Debbie & Geoff 💜 Fostering Managers and support team: Emma, Louise, Kam, Corrina and Rachel Together, we're building a community where children in care can flourish and foster carers feel truly connected. Read more about the pilot and fostering with Central Bedfordshire: https://ow.ly/3nck50UfYaY #FosterCare #CommunitySupport @theFosteringNetwork

Have you noticed these strange looking boxes along the banks of the Pix Brook? They’re actually state of the art monitoring stations, set up by ResilienTogether to capture live data at key points on Pix Brook, so they are able to better increase community resilience against flooding and climate change. https://lnkd.in/ej4-jWJF ResilienTogether is part of the £200million flood and coastal programme funded by @DEFRA and managed by the Environment Agency #ResilienTogether #Flood #Data #CommunityResilience

The new BLMK Music hub is organising our Annual Music CPD day on Thursday 16th January 2025. We would like to invite Music Leads, Music Co-ordinators, Heads of Music and Classroom Teachers to a day of tailored sessions with speakers and activities specific to EYFS, Key Stages 1-2, and Key Stages 3-5. Throughout these sessions there will be dedicated Q&A sessions with music educator experts and networking opportunities with colleagues from other schools and Local Authority Music Services. Plus there is a great lunch provided as part of the whole day! The venue will be Kings House (King's House, 245 Ampthill Rd, Bedford MK42 9AZ) with arrival from 8:45am. For further information, and to book tickets, please click on the URL below or scan the QR code. https://lnkd.in/e-s_hjBk

Last week we received a report from Sports Direct at The White Lion Retail Park in Dunstable, regarding an incident involving five individuals shoplifting from their store. Our CCTV team acted swiftly, zooming in on the suspects as they fled the store with arms full of stolen clothing and entered a waiting vehicle. We immediately relayed live footage to Bedfordshire Police, while tracking the vehicle as it left the scene. During their escape, the suspects' vehicle was involved in a collision with another vehicle on Queensway before heading toward Luton and out of camera range. Thanks to the clear footage captured, officers were able to locate and apprehend all five individuals in the Luton area. The footage has now been handed over to the police as part of their ongoing investigation. This is a great example of teamwork between local businesses, our CCTV team, and the police. Together, we’re helping to keep our community safer! #CommunitySafety #Teamwork

At a Full Council meeting yesterday (Thursday 21 November), Councillors voted to support some of the lowest income pensioner households in Central Bedfordshire with a £200 award, offsetting their household bills. Around £440,000 of funding from the Household Support Fund will be used to make an award of £200 to around 2,200 pensioners who have been identified. These households have had their Winter Fuel Payment – a one-off payment given to most people of pension age, providing them with financial assistance during the colder months - withdrawn due to the Government’s recent policy change. Pensioner households who qualify will be contacted directly. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dzemPTtb

🚛 Share your views on our draft Freight Strategy 🚛 Our draft Freight Strategy sets out our updated approach to managing freight movements in Central Bedfordshire to support the freight and logistics sector, whilst minimising the negative impacts movements can have on residential communities, and to encourage freight activity to be as sustainable as possible. Consultation on this draft strategy will close for comments at 10am, Friday 20 December 2024. To read our draft Freight Strategy and let us know your thoughts on it, visit: https://ow.ly/EXKJ50U2YM0