Fix the money @OutrunRob

Yesterday we completed our first pilot study of private security in Bedford, and I wanted to share what happened and some wider ideas for reviving Bedford. Firstly, this is step 1 of what I wrote in my manifesto “A Plan for Civic Renewal, Local Pride & Prosperity.” You can read that here: projectbedford.com The reason for private security is that we’ve all seen the decline in the town: addiction issues, shoplifting, anti-social behaviour, etc. This, coupled with convenience shopping over supporting local businesses, has naturally led to the town centre becoming something Bedfordians don’t recognise. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We are 100,000+ strong and with hard work, will, and determination, we can turn around our town centre. Having spoken to many business owners and residents, I know some won’t come to the town for fear of safety, won’t let their kids come to town, or avoid it because they don’t believe there are many nice shops. But there are nice shops, restaurants, and cafés and if we drive the local economy, more will come. The pilot programme with security was designed as an exercise to test the response from residents to seeing security in the town, collect data, and understand how we can reduce anti-social behaviour. My main concern was that while we have security as a deterrent, it may also appear as something intimidating. Thankfully, that fear was not found to be true, and all security reported back at our debrief that all day they had been regularly stopped by locals and thanked for being there. In terms of the issues they dealt with, the only major one was a suspected heart attack which one of our security guards spotted. They acted quickly, and an ambulance was called to take the resident to hospital. The rest of the incidents they dealt with were primarily asking alcoholics and problem addicts to move away from hot spots such as St Peter’s Green and the High Street. In almost every scenario, these people moved on, and our security team only had to deal with some minor aggressive responses. For me, it was a very successful day but it is one day in five pilot days, and we need to see the whole month to truly understand the picture. There are six other days of the week where our security won’t be there, so a longer-term solution is required, and I promise it will be found. I do recognise that we will only have moved the problem, and I am conscious of other hot spots such as Castle Mound and Castle Road One Stop face issues. Not only do we need a solution for the town centre every day, but for these other hot spots too. In terms of moving the problem, I have spoken to a number of addicts, and if I can help, I’d like to spend time seeing if the problems in recovery can be improved. If anyone reading this works in this area, please do reach out as I would like to meet. This week I am going to be focused on my programme to return problem people not from Bedford to their home town. Bedford has faced an increase in anti-social issues as the remand prison has dumped homeless people on the streets who are not from here, directing them to our homeless support. This has been crushing our council’s budget, which has risen from £7.5m in emergency housing in 22/23 to £18m last year. The prison was referred to the Secretary of State due to their poor record. Other towns have been importing their problems, and our council has been considered a soft touch as we do so much work to support others. This is commendable by the council, but it is clear we can’t afford it. Bedford should deal with Bedford’s problems only. Further, it should be known that the outcomes of persistent offenders and addicts are better in places they have local connections. It is therefore a win-win to ensure people not from Bedford are given the opportunity to return to where they are from. I will be activating a second pilot study on this, putting a second £10,000 into finding and returning those who wish to go back to the towns where they have local connections, improving their outcomes and reducing the burden on Bedford. ⸻ Following on from yesterday, I do want to thank a few people: 1. Belmont Security for their professional handling of security in the town 2. Andrea Spice from the council for her support and the hard work she does to support the town, many do not realise how hard she works on Bedford 3. Mayor Tom Wootton, who has given his full support for the plan 4. Bedfordshire Police (everyone outside of the PCC), who have supported the plan, came to the meeting, and were open to working together 5. The CCTV team and Sarah Stevens for their support I also want to thank all local residents and businesses for their support. Not everyone was keen on the idea, but we proved that this was a great initiative in Bedford. So many people have asked if they can help, and I’ll say what I’ve said to them: the biggest thing you can do is to go into the town and support local businesses. Mooch the shops and buy things, go and have a coffee or lunch at a local café (not just mine), have dinner at a restaurant. Economics is central to the issues of the town, and economic activity will drive the renewal. This requires conscious decisions to go to the town more than you would and spend money. This means grabbing family and friends and purposely heading into the town. This means giving the butcher your money, not Tesco. This means buying a coffee at Coffee With Art, not Starbucks. £1 spent locally circulates 4x in the local economy. Rather than paying a dividend, it supports a local family. And when you use Deliveroo, consider Etna over Domino’s, Rice Thai over Wagamamas. When Amazon feels convenient, consider whether a local business can serve you. We are 100,000+ strong, and if we all make these conscious decisions to shop local, we will change the face of the town. If we don’t, we will only get the town we deserve. Lastly, I want to share a couple of posts from Facebook which show how small actions can make big changes: “I was there yesterday—instead of people shouting or unconscious on the benches, there were couples and families enjoying a sit down in the town centre.” “Just come out of my clinic opposite the green—it’s lovely to see children running round on the green and families sitting on the benches.” None of this will be easy. There will be haters, weirdos who will want to find fault and hope this fails. Suicidal empathy and poor policy have brought us here. Just ask San Francisco. Only discipline and determination will get us out of this. Go Bedford!

@PeterMcCormack Inspiring. Please keep us updated with progress and obstacles faced. It helps us to tweak our own efforts.

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Von Wong @thevonwong

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Thurs evening, I was sad. I had just spent 6 months pouring my heart and soul into building an amazing installation to inspire real change for something few seemed to care about. Then, Bitcoin Twitter noticed the #SkullOfSatoshi, and the rollercoaster began. Here’s my story /1

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You should stop what you’re doing and watch this entire clip from @TheProblem.

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