Bedford's new mayor says town's best days are yet to come

Bedford has a new mayor – as Tom Wootton (Conservative Party) was declared the winner of the mayoral election after a long drawn-out count.

Tom paid tribute to the former mayor, Dave Hodgson (Liberal Democrat).

“He’s given 14 years service to this borough, and I think everybody should join in and give him a good hand.

“When you finish as a councillor you always get nice words set about you, he won’t get that in full council now.

“So I think everybody should understand this guy has worked very hard for the borough night and day all the time for 14 years,” he said.

The new mayor thanked his team, who he said “never gave up and kept fighting”.

“We have a manifesto, we’re going to do our best to deliver it, because I firmly believe Bedford’s best days are yet to come,” he said.

A few weeks before the election, the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Tom why he was standing in both elections.

He said: “I didn’t mean to stand as a councillor, we had everything lined up and unfortunately one of our councillors, passed away a few days before [the cut off].

“I just couldn’t bear to give it away and put in a paper candidate.

“I know it looks bad, but I’d rather have it look bad than have somebody who is not going to look after something that has been very very personal to me,” he said.

READ THE WARD ELECTION RESULTS HERE

A directly elected mayor and a cabinet is one of three different political systems available to local authorities.

The other two are a leader and cabinet, for example Central Bedfordshire Council, and a committee system where decisions are made by policy committees and approved by full council.

An elected mayor is supposed to make it clearer to the public where the responsibility for a particular decision lays.

However, a Research Briefing in the House of Commons Library (November 11, 2022) said that local authority mayors do not have additional powers over and above those available in authorities using the leader and cabinet model or the committee system.

Tom pledged to manage planning and infrastructure more effectively, create a safer borough, support vulnerable adults, children and families, grow the Bedford borough economy, keep Bedford moving and implement a real green agenda.

> There will be a by-election in the Wyboston Ward as the winner, Tom Wootton (Conservative Party) has been elected Bedford mayor. The returning officer said the by-election will take place within the statutory period. The turnout was 40.6 per cent.