Latest news with #TomWootton
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
The Mayor of Bedford regrets 'work from home' stance
A mayor says he "bitterly regrets" social media comments about staff working from home, after an independent councillor raised concerns over the council's approach to hybrid Conservative Mayor of Bedford, Tom Wootton, said in June that "asking them to come in to work as part of a team was really important" and on Facebook wrote "you do not build (strong workplace cultures) on Teams calls from the sofa".He said the change was part of a Stability Plan that had been discussed at a meeting of the authority's executive in now he has stressed the shift was not a strict instruction, but part of a long-standing policy encouraging staff to come in more regularly. 'High performance culture' At a meeting of the council's executive, independent councillor Doug McMurdo asked Wootton whether he had "executed" the 10 June announcement that staff were to return to the office three days a response, the mayor said: "This is not being done as a rule of 'you must return'," and added it was being done "department by department, head of service by head of service".He added that he "bitterly regrets making the comment about sofas".In a Facebook post in June, Wootton said: "Good services rely on great teamwork."Collaboration, visibility, and a strong workplace culture matter. You do not build that on Teams calls from the sofa."He had added: "The future of this council rests on a high-performance culture where openness and innovation are not just buzzwords, they are daily practice. Residents expect more. We are raising the bar."A month later, he says: "We have some wonderful officers, we have some wonderful workers.""I just think this policy of coming back to the office three days a week is a really good one, and it is one that lots of private industry have benefited from."At the meeting, McMurdo responded to Wootton: "Some advice I'd give you is to be careful what you put on social media."McMurdo added that he considered that "council staff being told to return to the office three days a week was a message that should come from the head of paid service, and not the directly elected mayor".The authority currently employs 1,740 full time staff across the borough. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- BBC News
Bedfordshire Crime Commissioner launches new plan to tackle crime
A crime commissioner has launched a summer safer streets scheme to combat anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, knife crime and offences associated with the night Tizard, Bedfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, told BBC Three Counties Radio presenter Andy Collins the "additional police activity" would focus on six hotspots with the "highest level of crime and footfall". The areas include Luton, Bury Park in the city, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Biggleswade and scheme is part of a Home Office initiative and will run across the county until September. Tizard confirmed the scheme would see "more police and community support officers on the street" and "a community enforcement team that will move across the county between the six areas, as and when necessary".He added: "We are seeing town centres where there was so much going on both in terms of retail, hospitality, culture [and] social activity, but we are finding that people feel unsafe."Often in the late evening and early morning where we were seeing the misuse of drugs and alcohol, and women particularly feeling unsafe on the streets at that time of night."He said the scheme would also be "using modern technology to observe what is going on and CCTV from local authorities as well". Loss of control In a letter to the chief constable of Bedfordshire Police in May, Tom Wootton, the Conservative Mayor of Bedford, said that "town centres in both Bedford and Kempston, feel they are under siege". In his letter he added: "Shoplifting is rampant, anti-social behaviour is unchecked, aggressive begging was intimidating residents and visitors alike."Wootton demanded "an urgent and substantial increase" in officer presence in the borough's town on the letter, Tizard said the mayor "used language I would not have used to describe what was going on in Bedford town centre", but he confirmed Wootton would be involved in the launch of the Bedford element of his summer said that he and the mayor "have the same objective to make Bedford safer" and "whether it is in the urban part of Bedford or the rural part of the borough of Bedford, people should feel safe and get their fair share of policing and other community resources". Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Bedford Mayor wants council staff in the office three days a week
Council staff will be expected to work at least three days a week from the office as part of a new policy, a mayor said. Conservative Tom Wootton confirmed it would apply to "office-based crews" only at Bedford Council, after some workers felt "very lonely". He told BBC Three Counties Radio presenter Jonathan Vernon-Smith that "asking them to come in to work as part of a team was really important".He added that the change was part of a Stability Plan that had originally been discussed at a meeting of its executive in April. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic saw many people working from home, and figures from the Office for National Statistics suggested more than a quarter of working adults in Great Britain were still hybrid working in autumn posted on social media that he was reversing what he called the previous administration's "lax approach to remote working".He said "collaboration, visibility and a strong workplace culture matter" and claimed that "you do not build that on Teams calls from the sofa"."This is part of my Stability Plan, a broader mission to drive up productivity, professionalism, and pride in public service," he wrote. "The future of this council rests on a high-performance culture where openness and innovation are not just buzzwords, they are daily practice. Residents expect more. We are raising the bar."Wootton told the JVS show "that asking the authorities 1,740 full-time staff to come in three days a week was a nice compromise" as "everybody used to come in" and "never thought anything of it".He added he "loved Teams calls" for speaking to people outside the borough, but that there was a "time and a place for them", and "getting together and talking with people you are working with" was also important. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
First shop opens in old Debenhams store building in Bedford
A former Debenham's store has been given a new lease of life as a cultural ground floor of the store in Bedford, which closed in May 2021, is now is visitor information centre, gift shop and box office for the town's Corn Exchange, marking the first phase of the site's Borough Council bought the space last year and Conservative mayor Tom Wootton said it was "vital that Bedford had something at the heart of it" after it had "sat empty for so long".He added that he hoped that the authority would have a developer on board for the rest of the site by the autumn, and that plans for it would be seen by the New Year. The authority was the preferred bidder for the site - known as Mayes Yard - spending about £1.8m to purchase it in said the move marked "another positive step in Bedford's town centre renewal, following the recent openings of other new stores, restaurants, and community spaces".The venue also provides an opportunity for people to buy Bedford gifts previously available in the Higgins Art Gallery and Museum, and displays from the Bedfordshire Art Loan Collection can be viewed in its ground floor windows along Silver Street and the High Street. In terms of the rest of the building, Wootton told the BBC the "eventual plan was to have shops on the ground floor and flats and houses and actually have people living in the town centre".He added that "timescales for things are always problematic for councils and things always slip" - but he hoped that "over the next couple of years you will see plans coming forward and things developing".Wootton pointed to the future arrival of Universal studios in the town as one of the motivations for developing the said: "We want to be ready in four or five years' time when millions of people start coming here, so they have got somewhere to go."The town is changing and we are doing all this cleaning and litter picking which is endless, but we are determined that Bedford is gonna be the place to be and I am really excited about that." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Universal Bedford theme park could get trains from Europe
Trains from continental Europe could reach Universal's new UK theme park if improvements to a railway station are made, a council meeting has been attraction is due to be built on the site of the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks, near Conservative mayor Tom Wootton told Bedford Borough Council's executive committee the government had asked for work on nearby Wixams railway station to be paused while proposals for a larger station are considered, adding that this could possibly accommodate trains from abroad. The Department for Transport (DfT) said the government would ensure the project was "well connected and easily accessible". The mayor told the meeting: "It does mean for the residents of Wixams a small pause while they get a very, very large four [platformed] train station that will even have a roof, I am told."But also it is told that they're probably thinking or bringing trains from further afield than London, possibly even abroad."Currently, a Eurostar service runs from Europe to London via the Channel Tunnel with a stop at Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy station, near Disneyland Paris."If we get the platforms right, so that a certain train can come all the way from France, that does ease a lot of problems and I'm looking forward to it," said Mr mayor added these were "rumours" he had heard and plans for the station had not yet been confirmed. Proposals to build a station at Wixams, a new town close to Bedford, were first made in July 2024 Bedford Borough Council agreed to enter an agreement with Network Rail to construct a two-platform station at a cost of £ has previously promised it would upgrade the station with two extra the mayor has said the council will no longer fund the construction due to negotiations between Universal and the Wootton told the BBC: "We're not going to be faced with that burden. It's going to be a national government thing and that's part of the negotiations with Universal."We've now heard from the government that we should cease work because they'd have to tear down some of the work we do because they have plans now to build a four-platform, very large station.""They'll be building the station and it won't be the little old council that's building a village station. There's going to be something a lot bigger."In a statement, a DfT spokesperson said: "As part of the Plan for Change, the government will commit to a major investment in infrastructure around the site to support the delivery of the project and ensure it is well connected and easily accessible."Further details on government plans for infrastructure investment around the site will be set out in due course." Eurostar services used to stop in Kent at Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International stations, but this stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic and never Mr Wootton was asked if it was realistic that Eurostar could operate to Bedfordshire, he responded: "Anything is possible."If you I had said to you a year ago that we're going to have 450-acre theme park here, people would have laughed."If I say to you now: 'We're building a train station, make sure it's big enough that we can have very large French trains come,' I think that's a possibility. We're just asking for the platforms to be a bit longer."Eurostar has been asked for comment. Labour MP for Bedford and Kempston, Mohammad Yasin, told the idea of trains coming from Europe was "exciting".He continued: "There are speculations; people are talking about it. If it happens I will fully support it but I've not heard from anybody yet."It can happen. I will be speaking with the relevant people in the coming days and months. It's a possibility; we have to make sure it's a reality. We will work towards it"It would be really, really exciting. Bedford would be linked straight with Europe." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
