Cllr. Marc Frost

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Cllr. Marc Frost Borough Councillor for the Wixams and Wilstead Ward, which includes Elstow and Stewartby. Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Services.

Vice Chair for Wilstead Parish Council, and Chair of Wixams Town Council. Borough Councillor for Wixams and Wilstead ward, which now includes Elstow and Stewartby. Chairman of Wixams Town Council

Vice Chairman of Wilstead Parish Council

16/10/2026

Forthcoming roadworks - comms from Universal fyi

Dear neighbour,

Upcoming resurfacing work to Manor Road

We wrote to you last month to provide an update on Manor Road and a look ahead to future activity, including some potential road resurfacing.We now wanted to confirm that this resurfacing will take place between Saturday 24 October and Sunday 25 October, between the hours of 8am and 5pm.

Three sections of Manor Road will be resurfaced, with work phased over the weekend to minimise disruption. Access to your property will be maintained at all times, with a dedicated traffic marshal in place to es**rt you through safely.

Should you need to, you can also call the on-site team managing the 24 - 25 October weekend activity on 07348 172196.We will continue to keep you updated throughout our enabling works and will publish traffic management related to our project on the Community
Updates page of our website universalukproject.co.uk.

As a reminder, the current closure of Manor Road to through traffic remains in effect until Friday 27 November.If you have any questions in advance of these upcoming works, you can email us at [email protected].

Yours sincerely,

Universal Destinations & Experiences

13/10/2026

Should we have an extra green waste collection in December?

A few residents have raised a sensible point with me.

We've experienced some long, hot summers in recent years, and leaves seem to be staying on the trees later into autumn.

The problem is our final green waste collection takes place in November, often before all the leaves have fallen. Residents then face the choice of storing their garden waste until collections restart or finding another way to dispose of it.

So I've looked into the cost of providing one additional green waste collection across Bedford Borough in December.

The initial figure quoted was £52,000. However, on examining the figures, the additional collection cost is £26,000, with the remaining £26,000 attributed to waste disposal. Those leaves will need disposing of whether we collect them in December or March.

Now, £26,000 is still public money, and with the financial pressures facing the Council, every pound matters.

Equally, leaving residents with bins and bags of leaves and garden waste for months creates its own problems.

We also need to look at whether our collection calendar still reflects when residents need the service. Rather than simply following the same timetable every year, we should review the evidence and consider whether collections need adjusting.

I'd welcome your views.

Is an extra December collection worth £26,000, or should we stick with the existing timetable?

I'm interested in what residents think before taking this any further.

08/10/2026

Save Our Lakes. Time for Action!

I was pleased to present the Save Our Lakes petition to Full Council last night, making sure the concerns of local residents were heard loud and clear.

The good news is that council officers and the Portfolio Holder for Environment will now explore what needs to be done to restore and maintain our lakes.

There was some discussion about who is responsible. Bedford Borough Council owns the lakes, although it was suggested that the Drainage Board might also have some responsibility.

My view is simple. I don't mind who does the work, as long as it gets done.

And by that, I mean done properly, done quickly and maintained regularly. We should not have to keep raising the same issues to get basic maintenance carried out.

Our lakes are an important part of our community, enjoyed by residents, families and wildlife. They deserve to be looked after.

We will not stand by and allow this area to be neglected.

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition and helped bring this issue before the Council. Your voices have been heard.

Now let's turn those concerns into action. I'll keep pushing until we see results.

06/10/2026

IF YOU’RE GOING TO DUMP YOUR RUBBISH, AT LEAST SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

People continue to dump rubbish around the bottle banks in Wilstead.

Local residents have already received fines for doing this.

It is also pretty difficult to miss the CCTV covering the area, complete with night vision and ANPR. So if you dump rubbish here, there is a fair chance your visit is being recorded.

Before you leave bags, boxes or other rubbish next to the bottle banks, ask yourself a simple question.

Is it worth the fine? Is it worth the risk of prosecution and potentially a criminal record?

Please stop dumping rubbish here.

Use the bottle banks for bottles. Take everything else to the tip, like a normal person.

And if you still decide to dump it, remember to smile for the cameras.

04/10/2026

WIXAMS HIGHWAYS UPDATE

Back in April, Wixams Town Council held a Highways consultation with residents to hear directly about the problems people face across Wixams.

Speeding, parking, poor visibility at junctions, congestion around the schools at drop off and collection times, and a number of other issues were raised.
Since then, all of the comments, suggestions and proposed solutions have been collated.

Barbara Matthews, who is leading this work for the Town Council, has met with Bedford Borough Council Highways and asked them to prepare plans and costings for the various options residents put forward.

I know people are keen to see progress. So are we. It is taking longer than we would like, but we need the information from Highways before we can properly put the options back to residents.

From the start, we have been clear about one thing. The Town Council should not simply decide what happens. Residents must be involved on the options for their streets and community.

Once we receive the plans and costings from Highways, every local household will receive information explaining the options.

We will then hold two drop in sessions, one during an evening and another at a weekend, to give as many residents as possible the opportunity to come along, see the proposals and have their say.

For those unable to attend, there will also be an opportunity to respond using a QR code on the leaflet.

The results will then go back to Wixams Town Council so they can approve the options residents have chosen and push for their implementation.

I fully support this approach. Wixams Town Council does too.

Once changes are introduced, our job does not end there. We will monitor what happens on the ground and, where something needs adjusting or improving, we will continue to press for action.

Barbara has put a considerable amount of work into moving this forward and deserves credit for keeping the pressure on.

After years of residents raising many of these issues, we want to get this right. That means listening to the people who live here, giving you genuine choices, and then getting the agreed changes delivered.

We will update residents as soon as we have the plans and costings back from Highways.

02/10/2026

The scarecrows are coming to Wixams!

The Scarecrow Festival is ready, and by the end of today all 10 entries should be in place across Wixams.

This year’s theme is movie characters and stars, so grab the map, get the family out and see how many you recognise.

There are entries from our Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers and Cubs, local schools, the retirement village, Danecroft residents, local families and Little Bears Home Nursery.

Some serious scarecrow creativity is clearly going on!

They will be on display throughout the weekend, with the winners revealed at Lakeview Village Hall at 2.30pm on Sunday 4 October.

Have a wander around, support everyone who has taken part and pick your own favourite before the judges have their say.

30/09/2026

Planning application refused at Duck End Wilstead

Bedford Borough Council has today refused the retrospective planning application for two Gypsy and Traveller pitches on land at Duck End, alongside the A6 between Wilstead and Wixams.

This application has generated significant local interest since works first started on the site.

The decision sets out nine separate reasons for refusal. These include the unsustainable countryside location, impact on the rural character and the important gap between Wilstead and Wixams, highway safety, the substandard access onto the A6, noise and safety concerns, insufficient biodiversity information and inadequate foul drainage proposals.

There was considerable community engagement. 141 objections were received, alongside 11 letters of support. Wilstead Parish Council and Wixams Town Council both submitted objections.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the application and submit comments based on legitimate planning considerations.

This decision is about whether this particular development is appropriate in this particular location. The Council has determined that it is not.

There remains a right of appeal, so this might not be the end of the planning process. I will continue to follow the case closely and keep residents updated.

27/09/2026

THE DUMP, YES, I’M CALLING IT THE DUMP

From Thursday 1 October, if you want to visit the Household Waste Recycling Centre, or as most normal people in Bedford call it, the dump, you’ll need to register your vehicle first.

The idea is straightforward. Bedford Borough taxpayers pay for the facility, so the Council wants to stop people from outside the Borough, and businesses avoiding commercial waste charges, using it.

Fair enough. We’ll see how well it works in practice.

Registration is free, takes a few minutes and you can register up to two vehicles at your address. The cameras at the entrance will then recognise your number plate.

Thankfully, we have avoided one particular piece of council bureaucracy. You do NOT need to book an appointment to go to the dump.

Anyone who has seen the queues and chaos the booking arrangements have caused over at Biggleswade will understand why I’m pleased about that.

So, a minor inconvenience. Think of your registration number, remember where you live, register once and off you go.

And yes, officially it remains the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

But I’m sticking with the dump.

Register here: www.bedford.gov.uk/HWRC

24/09/2026

A couple of street lighting issues sorted.

The damaged street light outside 151A Bedford Road, Wixams has now been fully replaced. The power has been transferred to the new column, the old stump removed, the verge reinstated and the light is working again.

I raised this and continued to chase for a timescale while the replacement and UK Power Networks connection were arranged.

Good news for Wilstead too. The street light on Bedford Road, next to the village sign, has also been completed and is now powered up and working.

They might seem like small issues, but they matter to residents, particularly as the darker evenings arrive.

Thanks to the Council’s street lighting team and everyone involved in getting both jobs finished.

If you spot a street light problem locally, report it and please send me the reference number. I am always happy to chase it if it gets stuck.

New parking restrictions proposed for Cotton End Road, WilsteadBedford Borough Council is proposing new “No Waiting at A...
23/09/2026

New parking restrictions proposed for Cotton End Road, Wilstead

Bedford Borough Council is proposing new “No Waiting at Any Time” restrictions on Cotton End Road.

The reason given is to support the new highway infrastructure associated with the new development, maintain visibility and prevent obstructive parking.

So, new road infrastructure for a new development, and parking restrictions are being proposed alongside it.

Pity we do not always see the same speed when existing residents have been asking for parking restrictions to deal with long standing problems.

The consultation is now open and residents have until 15 October 2026 to support or object to the proposal.

If you live nearby, please have a look and have your say.

Address

Bedford
MK45

Telephone

+441234718662

Website

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