Help With Benefits

More and more families are sadly falling into crisis locally.

Central Bedfordshire Council have produced a booklet to explain some of the main changes to Council and other benefits resulting from the Government's welfare reform.  An electronic copy of the leaflet can be found on their website in the "Benefits" section, under "Welfare Reform".

A copy of the booklet can be downloaded directly. (This pdf file requires Adobe).

Focus on Lib Dems In Houghton Regis - Summer 2013

Meet Our New Liberal Democrat Councillors

Vacancies recently occurred on the Houghton Regis Town Council. With agreement of
other parties the expense of an election battle was avoided, and new councillors were
co-opted. Our two new Lib Dem councillors are:


Cllr Marion Rolfe, from Recreation Road, has lived in Houghton Regis for over 50 years and has seen changes. Her main hobbies are running Marathons and working with Cat's Protection. She has a very demanding job and has worked in the fields of Credit and
Law for over 40 years.
Marion is very keen to work to get the environment and infrastructure in Houghton Regis improved and will work with the Planning and Environment committees to move this forward.





Cllr Laura Ellaway, from Brookfield Avenue, has been a Houghton Regis resident since 1999. Since 2008, has been employed by Aldwyck Housing Association. Laura was parent governor at Kings Houghton Middle School 2007 to 2009. Since 2010, a
community governor at Harlington Upper School.
Laura says, "I have a particular interest in community involvement which includes all age groups, and my goal is to get more residents to engage and take part, as well as taking pride in where they live."

POYNTERS ROAD - Roadworks for eleven weeks

Poynters Road has a serious road failure requiring major maintenance. The lower layers of the road surface are weak, so the road needs to be reconstructed from the ‘bottom up’.
The weakness will only get worse the longer it is left, so fixing the problem now will stop the road failing completely.
The works are due to start in the week starting 8th July for a duration of 11 weeks.
Diversions will be in place while the road is closed.

Hours of working announced so far are:
8 am to 6 pm, Monday to Saturday. No working on Sundays or Bank Holidays. 
Contacts:
Email: poynters.road@amey.co.uk
Internet: www.facebook.com/PoyntersRd

Phone: 07808 395830

High Street Works - We Shared Your Pain

High Street works are almost finished. Delays to traffic have been considerable. Anyone who
has had to travel through the High Street, or has a business there, has suffered. Our councillors live here too, and we have shared your pain. .. but we are nearly there!

The scheme was largely paid for by developers of the supermarket, and not public money, as part of an agreement with Central Bedfordshire Council.

Your Liberal Democrat councillors have received your complaints, and monitored your anger and frustrations. We have written many times to the council officers, Bedfordshire Highways, and spoken with contractors, sub-contractors, and utility suppliers.

We have won concessions on the planned scheme. A compromise re-positioning of the Bedford Road zebra crossing, being but one example.

One of our doubts has been the safety of pedestrians on those zebra crossings. The final stage of different coloured surfaces and patterns could make a significant difference.
When the planned scheme is finished we will be in a better position to see how it works.
However, it is quite likely we shall ask for safety zones in the middle of certain zebra crossings.

COMMUNITY PAYBACK

Several paths in Houghton Regis are due to be cleared of weeds, litter, and fly-tipping by a community pay-back team. Work was recently done in the cemetery.
Cllr Susan Goodchild remarked, "The visual and positive contribution they are making is there for the community to see. The work being done is clearly sending out the right message."

Meet Your Councillors

Your Liberal Democrat Councillors hold a regular surgery where you can discuss issues, personal or public, (in private if you prefer).
Future Saturday Surgeries:
27th July, 28th September, 26th October Library Meeting Room, Bedford Square
From 10am to 12 midday (no appointment needed)

Promise Made Promise Kept

Liberal Democrats have delivered a £700 Income Tax cut to 113,000 Central
Bedfordshire workers. The Lib Dems have delivered their flagship election promise
to cut taxes for ordinary workers a year early.

Over 10,000 Central Bedfordshire workers will be taken out of tax altogether.
And, from next April, 113,000 will be paying £700 less in income tax than they were in 2010. Liberal Democrats in Houghton Regis know this will help to ease the squeeze on our household budgets. It was an election promise, now delivered.

Liberal Democrats in Government are delivering real help in tough economic times. Energy bills are set to be reduced by up to £200. Childcare costs are being cut by up to £1200 per child. Fuel duty has been frozen again.

WALKABOUTS

Your councillors take turns to walk about the estates with the CBC Estates Officer. We pick
up on fly-tipping, graffiti, and other issues that need to be sorted out.
On a walkabout in Parkside, we reported on a hidden caché of waste motor oil, and dumped bedding.
We also noticed a large amount of litter on the northern side of Parkside. The scheduled litter
picker was due the next day, but then we discovered he had only one day a week allocated to the task, as well as an expectation on him that he should also weed all the pathways.
This is clearly an impossible task.

We will explore the possibility of improving this situation, but ask that residents do not drop

litter.

Dealing With Crime and The Fear of Crime

A new task force has been set up in Houghton Regis. It puts in place an action plan to reduce
petty crime and anti-social behaviour.
The new group consists of local councillors, Central Beds Anti Social Behaviour team, housing officers, youth workers, community workers and Street Watch.
The Focus team urges local people to play their part by reporting incidents.
• If an incident is happening and it is an emergency, then ring 999.
• Otherwise, ring 101.
• If you know who is responsible for anti-social behaviour let the ASB team know on 0300
300 8302 Or email to community.safety@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Bus Stop Out Of Service Frustrates Residents

CBC Cllr Susan Goodchild is asking Highways when the bus stop opposite Morrison's will be in use.

Susan told 'News', "I have received four requests in the past couple of days from residents asking when the bus stop opposite the Morrison's store will be operational.  It has been taped up for sometime now, this means that our residents who are reliant upon public transport to enable them to do their shopping, have to walk down to Bedford Square to access the bus.  For some this is proving very difficult indeed."