Dear Sir/Madam (DCLG)

As one of the Bedford Borough Councillors for the Borough Ward of Wootton and following receipt of a letter from our Head of Planning, I wish to formally object to the Eco-town proposals of New Marston and Marston Vale.

I support the basic principles of new housing that responds to climate change, a sustainable future and an increased housing supply. However, I believe the Eco-town proposals of New Marston and Marston Vale are flawed for the following reasons:

a) They will mean effectively no green fields in a direct line from Junction 13 of the M1 to the Marsh Leys roundabout near Kempston.

b) Existing development plans in place such as Stewartby 2000 will, together with these proposals, mean that the Marston Vale will have almost 3 times the existing expected development in the current Growth Area. Thus these proposals will far exceed existing projected demand.

c) Even once the A421 is dualled, the A421 and the B530 will really struggle to cope with the likely increased traffic from the Eco-towns.

d) The Eco-town proposals of New Marston and Marston Vale merge existing, settled communities into one great mass of housing.

In summary, whilst the Eco-town proposals of New Marston and Marston Vale meet the increased housing supply principle, they are a direct opposite to the other two principles.

I look forward to further correspondence on this matter.

Local residents have been in touch with me regarding the issue of the poor state of the road surface in Potters Cross. I contacted the County Council in March 2008 asking them to take action on this issue.  I am now very pleased to report that resurfacing works for Potters Cross are now scheduled for two weeks commencing 23^rd June 2008. The works may or may not leave the road as an absolutely perfect surface but at least it should be a lot better than it is now. I would very much appreciate it if you could give me your feedback on the following issues:a)         Did you receive a copy of the closure consultation letter yourself?b)         If you did, did you think it was enough notice?I would like the feedback as I want to ensure the County Council gives enough notice to a large enough number of local residents on such issues. If necessary, I will lobby the County Council to improve the way they do this.

British Telecom have announced plans to remove 28 public payphones from a variety of both urban and rural locations across Bedford Borough. Liberal Democrats have called for BT to justify the removals by providing individual usage figures for the payphones and stating the criteria they have used to identify call boxes for removal.

The Liberal Democrat FOCUS Team,  whose Wootton and Stewartby Ward faces the loss of a payphone in Stewartby, said “This is further evidence of a continued erosion of local services. It is not good enough for BT to simply announce a huge cull of local payphones without even providing usage figures for the phones or their criteria for identifying those to be removed.’

“While it may be the case that some payphones do not cover costs, BT makes huge profits and it must recognise the crucial purpose that payphones can serve by being available for emergency use. In addition to retaining a healthy distribution of payphones it is essential that BT ensure payphones are well maintained and where necessary adapted in order that they can only be used for outgoing calls to prevent their use by drug dealers, for example. “

Bedford Borough Council is conducting a consultation on BT’s proposed payphone removals, with a closing date for responses of the 25th of June.

A UK-wide campaign to encourage people to recycle more of their household waste has been backed by Tim Hill.   National Recycling Week is being held on 2^nd – 8^th June. This is the fifth year it has been held. It is run by Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a national organisation set up to help people produce less waste and advise on how best to deal with rubbish in an environmentally friendly way. Tim Hill says “In Bedford Borough the recycling and composting rate is very poor. That means we still have a long way to go before we are dealing with our waste in a way that does not leave a lasting problem for generations to come.  “I am delighted to be able to back National Recycling Week. We are encouraging as many residents as possible to make small changes in their lifestyles which will make large strides to ensuring we do not wreck our environment. “We waste a huge amount of food each year – on average we throw away 112kg of food each, most of which is still usable. People can avoid this waste by doing simple things such as producing a shopping list of what food is needed, rather than wandering around the supermarket buying what takes your fancy! “Last year in the UK, it was estimated that we spent £8 billion on food that was still fit to be used when it was thrown away. Being green can save money! But if you do produce food waste, why not get a compost bin if you have a garden?  “People should also try to buy food and other goods which have less packaging. And full use should be made of recycling facilities to dispose of waste. It is better that waste is turned back into something that is useful rather than dumped in the ground.  “There is a limit to how much rubbish we can throw into holes in the ground. There comes a point when we have to say that we cannot go on getting rid of waste in this way. “I am therefore we could support National Recycling Week  and I hope by highlighting the issue nationally it will be a great success and will help residents of Bury to cut waste and live greener lifestyles.”