The new tory mayor of Bedford is launching his 4 hours free parking in All hallows Car Park, only one car park in Bedford Borough.

This is going to cost £95000 and is to be taken from the councils contingency fund. A fund that is meant to be used for any contingencies like an overspend in a department due to pressure on services.

As inflation is still high, at 8+%, a deficit already in the Council budget for this year, do you think this is a wise decision to spend this money when there is so much pressure on children’s services, adult social care, fixing roads and pavements?

How does this decision help residents to stop using their car to get to town and start using active travel services, like the local bus service?

It would pay for 38000 bus journeys for residents to get into town at the government’s new rate of £2.50 per journey starting in October 2023.

Is it wise to experiment on this now? For 6 months, costing us the taxpayer £95,000?

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