Houghton Regis News Desk

Central Bedfordshire Council has announced a new initiative to encourage active lifestyles and help residents to discover and explore their local areas, parks and green spaces by walking, running or cycling by using a fun new game.  Launching on 1 August 2021, Street Tag is a fun, free, family-friendly game that enables players to collect points by using their smartphones to scan virtual tags. The tags can be found in various locations across Central Bedfordshire, including in areas surrounding parks and open spaces, libraries, leisure centres and other areas of interest.  The app will log any activity completed by participants, and it will show on a range of competitive community and school leader boards.  Schools will have the opportunity to compete in a local Central Bedfordshire Schools Street Tag League, while residents in small groups of six or less will compete against other families or groups on a Community Leader Board.  Leader boards are active for 14-16 weeks and withi

50 jobs could be created on a site in Humphrys Road if it is redeveloped for beansprout growing. Plans have been submitted to Central Bedfordshire Council this week. The applicant on the application form is given as “Legal and General UK Property Fund and Legal and General Assurance (Pensions Management)Limited”. The site is a corner plot on Humphrys Road, where the Poynters Road / Porz Avenue Roadabout meets. Humphrys Road is a corner of Houghton Regis and part of the Woodside Industrial estate. Businesses with premises there include Aryzta Bakeries, DPD Parcels, Go Interiors, Country Kitchens, Premier Cables, and until recently the Disability Resource Centre. The site is 113 Hectares and has received pre-application advice. A covering letter accompanying the application, says, “The proposal will secure the occupation of J-Pao, who has shown considerable interest in Unit 33. J-Pao’s predominant activity is the growing of bean sprouts from seed usin

A site close to Thorn Road and Bedford Road could be redeveloped for affordable housing (What is Affordable Housing? ), including the redesign of a roundabout to accomodate a site entry point, if planning permission is given. Plans have been submitted to Central Bedfordshire Council by FSG Estates Ltd of Milton Keynes to erect 59 affordable dwellings. The site is opposite Dunstablians Rugby Football Club in the west. Plans to redevelop other nearby sites are already well advanced or under construction. The site was known as ALP257 The Turn, Bedford Road, Bidwell, consisting of 1.5426 hectares and was identified as potential residential land in Central Bedfordshire's Call for Sites when they were looking for sites to include in their Local Plan. In July 2017 the site to be excluded from the Local Plan process but was to be considered as part of the larger submission ALP260. This Full application seeks to develop the site on it's own. See on Houghton Regis' Places Map

Back at the end of 2019, Central Bedfordshire Council Environmental Protection Officer found this fly tip in a layby on Sundon Road, Chalton. Evidence found in the waste led back to a property in Luton. After many attempts at visiting and trying to contact the householder, there was never any reply. This case was recently heard at Magistrates Court, the householder did not appear for Court and was found guilty in absence and ended up with a fine and costs to pay amounting to £1,360. Follow us on Facebook If you have any update on this story, or other news for Houghton Regis, please send it in. EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS — Our old Subscriber service is going away. If you enjoyed this post and never want to miss out on future posts please subscribe to this new service from Follow It » Tweets by HoughtonRegisND

Central Bedfordshire Council has been awarded a Government grant of over £200,000 to help support the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) children and young people.  The council is one of five local authorities to have been awarded a share of the £1million fund. It is part of a year-long pilot project to boost educational attainment, tackle exclusion and drop-out rates, and improve pathways to employment for GRT children.  With the grant of £225,796, the council aims to support more GRT children in education and in acquiring skills needed for work. It hopes to: support more families to access Early Years Education, helping children up to five years old develop the skills they need to prepare for school  work with teachers to increase their knowledge of cultural and educational issues  support individual pupils with their learning, with the aim of them continuing into Secondary education develop a work experience project for up to 12 Year 11 aged pupils to allow them to dev

A crackdown on immigration crime and human trafficking has seen 34 lorries stopped at an M1 service station in Bedfordshire. As part of an ongoing operation in Bedfordshire to tackle clandestine entry, on Monday (19 July) 14 lorries were searched, and a further 20 lorries were provided with safety information. Officers from community, response, missing and roads policing were joined by partners from Central Bedfordshire Council and Immigration Enforcement. As well as boots on the ground, a drone was used to check the tops of lorries , as well as to monitor the wider area. The operation was led by Sergeant Andre Tringham, of our Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit. He said: “We are aware that Toddington Services are being used by human traffickers for clandestine entry, so we will continue to run these operations. “Our main aim is to help protect and safeguard vulnerable people, as well as identify those pulling the strings in human trafficking and exploitation. “Th

Houghton Regis, 21 July 2021 - Archaeologists who uncovered fascinating Stone Age and Roman remains at the new community, Linmere, being created next to Houghton Regis are encouraging residents to discover the history on their doorstep during the National Festival of Archaeology which is taking place throughout the country The event, which began on July 17 and continues until August 1, is organised by the Council for British Archaeology. This year's theme, Exploring Local Places , urges residents across the UK to discover their area's local archaeological history by delving into the stories of the people and communities who lived there hundreds and thousands of years ago. Recent archaeological excavations at the site on which Linmere is being developed give a tantalising glimpse into domestic life in previous centuries and millennia. Heritage experts, Bedford-based Albion Archaeology , partnered with Linmere developers before work began on the site and made numerous inter

Central Bedfordshire Libraries are calling for children to discover a wild reading adventure at their local library, during the 2021 Summer Reading Challenge. This year the theme is  Wild World Heroes , with a nature-themed challenge, supported by the World Wildlife Fund. The challenge is launched in their libraries on  23 July  and will run until  11 September . To take part, all  children  need to do is  sign up at their nearest library  at any time during the challenge. Children must be a member of their library service. To participate, children of all ages just need to  read any six library books  of their choice over the summer - books may be borrowed from a local library, requested via the library  Select and Collect service  or children can use e-books, magazines and audiobooks available from the  Virtual Library . Participants will receive rewards along the way:  stickers, a bookmark for reading two books,  a pencil for reading for 4 books,  and the ultimate reward will be

Houghton Regis has a new Town Ranger. His name is Ben McGarrigle. Ben has been recruited internally from Houghton Regis Town Council grounds team and you may have seen him helping out at community events in the town. The Ranger initiative from Houghton Regis Town Council, supported by Central Bedfordshire Council is to provide a ‘See-It Sort-It’ service for those small-scale problems and issues in the town which are maybe considered an eyesore or an inconvenience.  The Town Council offers an app to send them the information. See the QRCode in this poster below Or Report The problem Via Email.  Provide the following details to the Town Council. 1. Copy the text below 2. Open your email program (Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc) 3. Paste the text into main body of the email. 4. Cut the "TO" address and paste that into the "SEND TO" or "Recipients" box. TO -  ranger@houghtonregis.org.uk Say what the main issue is:  graffiti, fly-tipping, littering, ove

At a special ceremony held on Monday 19 July at Luton Hoo Hotel, by kind permission of General Manager Mr Matthew Long, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Helen Nellis brought together six Bedfordshire recipients who received British Empire Medals in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday and 2021 New Year’s Honours Lists, to present their medals on behalf of HM Queen. Vice Lord-Lieutenant Mr Chris Sharwood-Smith MBE was the Master of Ceremonies at the reception and the following dignitaries were in attendance: High Sheriff of Bedfordshire Eric Masih, Mayor of Luton Cllr Mahmood Hussain, Chief Fire Officer Andrew Hopkinson and Deputy Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst. They were joined by recipients and their family members to hear details about their achievements, which were read out by the Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadets. The recipients honoured and presented with their British Empire Medals were:  Chief Inspector Mohammad Aziz BEM For services to Policing and Diversity  Ms Haley Ethridge BEM For ser

A team of three Safer Communities Involvement Officers provide a reassuring link for residents and Town and Parish councils, and are committed to ensuring that Central Bedfordshire is a great place to live and work. They proactively respond to concerns about a range of community safety issues, including low level anti-social behaviour, dog fouling, fly tipping and much more. The officers give advice, support and guidance while providing a visible presence within communities across Central Bedfordshire. Working with partner agencies including, Bedfordshire Police, local councillors, other internal departments and independent charities enables them to research, design, and support delivery of positive community safety solutions. When out and about in your communities they value time spent engaging with residents, so please stop them for a chat and take the opportunity to raise any community safety concerns you have. Your feedback is enormously useful to us and helps them to respond t