Houghton Regis News Desk

l While we can’t come together to create our usual Town Carnival this summer, Houghton Regis Town Council is still hoping to bring the joy of carnival to you!
Clips and videos from the previous carnival processions will be bolted together so that a programme of events can be assembled for a great big virtual community Carnival. This will be available online throughout the day on Saturday 11th July starting with an Offical Opening from the Town Mayor at 9.55am – The Town Council is hoping that this will be just like the real thing but over the airwaves!
The Town Council want Houghton Regis Virtual Carnival 2020 to be an opportunity to celebrate together, SAFELY, being part of this wonderful community of ours and to mark positively how everyone has been so supportive of one another during these difficult times.
Below is a schedule of events that we know about so far. Full information available from the Houghton Regis Virtual Carnival 2020 Page on Facebook.
Meanwhile, at Houghton Regis News D…

More than 90 kilos of Class A drugs, seven firearms and over £180,000 in cash has been seized in Bedfordshire on Thursday as part of the UK’s largest-ever operation to combat serious and organised crime.
Twenty-four people have been arrested in the county and 11 people charged so far as part of a major coordinated period of action by law enforcement agencies across Europe.
Throughout June Bedfordshire Police worked alongside colleagues from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) to run two intensive days of action against suspected organised crime gangs.
This was followed up today (Thursday) with another wave of enforcement action, with more than 70 police officers and staff involved in warrants across Luton.
The massive breakthrough in the fight against serious and organised crime comes after the takedown of a bespoke encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals.
Encrochat offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service, but an international l…

A report to the Personnel Committee of Houghton Regis Town Council shows that staff sickness levels have been quite high for the past 15 months.


The report covers the 15 month period from April 2019 to June 2020. It shows a total of 388 sick leave days.
For the period April 2019 to March 2020 office staff had 152 sick leave days, an average of 15.2 days per member of staff. In the same period, the grounds staff clocked up 138 sick leave days, an average of 19.7 days per member of staff.
And in the past three months, April to June 2020 there has been 66 days sickness among office staff, an average of 6.6 days per office staff member. The grounds staff have racked up 33 days sickness from April to June 2020, averaging 5.5 days per staff member. 


The reasons for the sickness are not disclosed in the report.
Also to be discussed is that staff annual leave is allowed to accumulate and be taken in a future year as staff were not booking holidays as normal through the work-from-home COVID-19 pand…

Unsolicited scams are popping up all over the place and we are encouraging you to share this information with your elderly and vulnerable family and neighbours. In June Beds Police dealt with two incidents where a person had contacted a victim and claimed to be a detective investigating their bank and claimed that the people working in the bank are part of the scam. The victim is then told to go and withdraw money from the bank and is encouraged to lie to bank staff about the reasons for the withdrawal. Once the money has been obtained the victim will be contacted again, the fake detective will then declare the cash is forged and arrange for a courier to come and collect the money from the victim. We are urging you not to act on any demands from these calls and instead report it to Action Fraud, our online reporting centre, or by calling 101.
Here are some tips which can help you spot a fraudulent message. 
Police will NEVER ask you to make payments using Amazon Gift Cards or PayPal AND ne…

Houghton Regis Heritage Society has launched a new project to capture people's experiences of what the COVID-19 pandemic has meant for people in Houghton Regis.
Many of us have been affected by the pandemic in some shape or form and future generations will no doubt wish to learn all about this challenging time. They will be keen to see what living through a pandemic looked and felt like for those men, women and children whose lives were changed dramatically, almost overnight, demanding bravery, resilience and creativity to get through.
The Houghton Regis Heritage Society is starting a project - Houghton Regis Life under Lockdown 2020 – whereby photographs and other information will be saved in their Archive.
Perhaps you have photographs of your life under lockdown? Have you been sharing photos of the Clap for Carers, your latest dance moves, making NHS supplies, working from home or doing more family activities at home? 
Maybe you have used video conferencing apps like Zoom or Microso…

New boundaries are being proposed for council wards in Central Bedfordshire.

This stage of the consultation closes on 7 September 2020 The Local Government Boundary Commission wants to hear what residents and local organisations think about the proposals. A 10-week consultation on the proposals will run until 7 September 2020.

The proposals include that the old boundaries of Tithe Farm, Parkside and Houghton Hall are discontinued in terms of areas that ward CBC councillors cover.

Instead, Houghton Regis would be carved up into new wards, broadly similar to now, of Houghton Regis East, and Houghton Regis West. And part of the existing Dunstable Northfields ward would be moved into Houghton Regis West.

Proposed ward boundaries:
Every street east of Bedford Road would be in Houghton Regis East.  Every street south of the High Street from The Chequers to The Kings Arms would be Houghton Regis West. Every street west of Windsor Drive would be Houghton Regis West; every street east of Winds…

Towards the end of the century parts of the UK could see 40°C days every 3-4 years on average under a high emissions scenario, says the Met Office.

Scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre have found that by the end of the century extremely high temperatures will be possible.

The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK is 38.7°C set in Cambridge in July 2019.

By 2100, under a high emissions scenario, the UK could see 40°C days every three to four years, especially if emissions are not reduced in line with the Paris climate agreement.

Lead author Dr Nikolaos Christidis, said “We found that the likelihood of extremely hot days in the UK has been increasing and will continue to do so during the course of the century, with the most extreme temperatures expected to be observed in the south-east of England.”

“Some parts of the south-east between 1960 and 2019 the hottest days of the year have already increased by 1°C each decade. The UK is already on a warming trend when it comes to …