Cllr Gareth Tranter

Cllr Gareth Tranter Independent Councillor for Biggleswade East 👋

Walking the patch, listening, fixing, and sharing what matters.

18/05/2026

I posted this 7 months ago. Nearly 11,000 of you watched it. Residents signed a petition months before this. Exec members have since supported an ask for works.

CBC Highways still say the bushes blocking the crossing on Saxon Drive are fine. Watch this space.

23/04/2026

Full Council tonight — here’s where things landed.

A genuine win to start — the SEND Sub-Committee has been secured for the medium term. That committee protects some of our most vulnerable children and families. Keeping it intact is worth saying clearly.
I spoke in support of the

Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre petition — 1,895 signatures from residents who want that facility protected. I drew the parallel with what we’ve been fighting for in Biggleswade with the Saxon Crèche. The argument is the same: growing communities need more infrastructure, not less.

On Education — a motion was debated tonight declaring an education emergency in Central Bedfordshire. 25 schools facing deficit. A national SEND White Paper designed for two-tier systems when much of CBC is still three-tier. I spoke to it, I voted for it, and it passed.

Two items I was particularly ready for — Health and Estate Management — didn’t get debated. The meeting overran. Those issues are too important to leave on a shelf. They’re getting their own dedicated videos. Watch this space.

The full agenda and meeting pack is pinned in the comments.

If you want my view on anything specific from tonight — drop a comment or send me a message. I’ll always do my best to answer.

23/04/2026

Tonight I'm heading into Full Council — and four things on the agenda need your voice.

Health — Biggleswade is named in a motion tonight calling out the failure to match our area's growth with proper NHS investment. Neighbouring areas have secured millions. We haven't. I've been working on this. Tonight we push harder.

SEND & Education — A motion declaring an education emergency in Central Bedfordshire. 25 schools facing deficit. Thousands of empty school places. And a national SEND White Paper designed for two-tier systems — when most of CBC is still three-tier. Our SEND children and families deserve better.

Estate Management Companies — If you live on a newer development with unadopted roads and unexplained charges, this one's for you. There's a motion tonight pushing for proper developer accountability and mandatory roads adoption. Long overdue.

Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre — 1,895 residents have signed a petition to protect it. I'm watching this closely. Because a growing community losing a leisure facility is something I've seen up close with the Saxon Crèche campaign. The argument is the same: growing towns need more infrastructure, not less.

I'll be speaking on all of these tonight. But before I walk in, I want to hear from you.

What's your experience? What matters most? Drop it in the comments below.

Sunday afternoon sorted by the family — they wanted the bridge. Can’t argue with that logic honestly. Ended up doing a p...
19/04/2026

Sunday afternoon sorted by the family — they wanted the bridge. Can’t argue with that logic honestly.

Ended up doing a proper walk along the Ivel at Furzenhall Common. Genuinely lovely. One of those afternoons that reminds you why living here is actually pretty good! 🟢

First General Purposes Committee done. Here’s the honest account. (Video of the same on TikTok / Insta if you’d rather!)...
17/04/2026

First General Purposes Committee done. Here’s the honest account. (Video of the same on TikTok / Insta if you’d rather!)

It was a long morning — we were in that room near 1pm working through a 331-page agenda pack. That’s the reality of local governance that nobody puts in the election leaflets!

Here’s what happened on the issues that matter most.

Community Governance Review

Parishes across Central Bedfordshire had their boundaries reviewed today. For Biggleswade, there was a detailed boundary discussion that needed to go fully on the public record. I supported the officer and working group recommendations throughout.

On a separate amendment relating to Eggington — I did something I very rarely do. I abstained.

That wasn’t a fence-sit. The amendment felt politically charged and the potential impact on local parish councils and residents was significant enough that I didn’t feel it was right to vote without genuinely understanding the lived experience of those communities. So I listened instead, to those who did.

Sometimes that’s the most honest thing you can do.

The SEND Sub-Committee

This was the item I came prepared for — and the one I’m most glad I pushed on.

There was a proposal to dissolve the dedicated SEND scrutiny committee and absorb its work into a larger general committee. I spoke clearly against it.
I raised two specific challenges in the room.

First, the financial case. The direct cash saving from this proposal was £1,750 per year. Against a budgeted efficiency of £8,000. The same report recommended a broader scrutiny review costing up to £15,000. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Second, the proposal contained no guarantee that specialist co-opted members — people with dedicated SEND expertise who currently hold voting rights on the sub-committee — would have equivalent status on the parent committee. That’s not a minor detail. That’s specialist knowledge and formal influence being quietly removed.

An amendment came forward immediately after to remove SEND from the proposal entirely. I voted for it. It was carried.
The SEND Sub-Committee will not be dissolved today.

The Police and Crime Advisory Panel will return to the Sustainable Communities OSC, alongside a wider governance review. I’ll be watching that review carefully — including what it costs and how it’s scoped.

Standards Complaints and RIPA
Given the length of the meeting, the standards complaints report and the surveillance powers update were deferred to June. But I want to be clear — conduct complaints across this council doubled in the past year. That’s a governance culture issue that deserves proper attention, not a quiet deferral. I’ll be there in June ready to engage with it properly.

As always — if any of this affects you, particularly around SEND, drop me a message or leave a comment below.

16/04/2026

Tonight I’m attending the Biggleswade Joint Committee — the partnership committee between Biggleswade Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. There’s a fair bit on the agenda, so here’s a quick summary of what’s being discussed.

Graffiti Management — The Biggleswade Community Safety Group have been doing solid work identifying who’s responsible for graffiti across the town and how to tackle it properly. Tonight they’re asking for incident data so we can actually measure the problem before deciding how to act on it.

Bus Stop Feasibility Study — CBC commissioned a study looking at whether the current bus stop arrangements at Century House still work, and whether relocating stops to the High Street or Church Street makes sense. The final report arrives end of April. No spending decisions yet, but the findings will feed directly into the town centre vision.

A1 Underpass — In January, the committee formally resolved to push for an underpass rather than a bridge to provide safe crossing between Biggleswade and surrounding villages. Tonight is a progress update on where that push has got to.

Health Provision — The Deputy Leader for Health was due to attend tonight but is unable to. He’ll come to the July meeting instead. There are ongoing questions about health services in a growing town like Biggleswade and I’ll continue to follow this closely.

Land East — The major development to the east of Biggleswade is progressing. I’m the CBC representative on the working group overseeing it and will be keeping residents updated as things develop.

ASDA Parking — There’s been an attempt by ASDA to restrict their car park to store customers only. Legal advice to both councils is clear — a long-standing planning agreement requires that car park to be available for general town centre use, free of charge, for up to two hours. CBC Planning have written to ASDA. We’ll hear tonight where things stand.

I’ll report back after the meeting. If any of these issues matter to you, let me know in the comments.

26/03/2026

600 signatures. The Executive Member agreed with us. And the operator is closing the crèche anyway.

Here’s where we are — and what happens next. 👇

The data was incomplete. No proper equalities assessment was done. We made the case at the meeting last week. The Exec Member backed a reversal.

Then they went ahead regardless.

This is going to scrutiny committee. The fight isn’t over.

If this affects you — comment or DM me. Your voice is part of what happens next.

SAXON LEISURE CRECHE CLOSURE UPDATE:I’ve met with council officers and the leisure operator today regarding the closure ...
18/03/2026

SAXON LEISURE CRECHE CLOSURE UPDATE:

I’ve met with council officers and the leisure operator today regarding the closure of the crèche at Saxon Leisure Centre.
What’s clear is that this decision is part of a wider plan to grow the gym and compete with new providers.

But I’ve raised concerns that the equality impact hasn’t been properly assessed and that the wider impact on parents hasn’t been fully considered. Further, a Creche could actually be viewed as a competitive differentiator going forward.

I’ve asked specifically for this to be looked at again and to explore as a minimum, the short-term deferral of the decision to properly test demand.

If a long-standing community service is going to close, residents quite reasonably expect to see that every angle has been properly considered first. I'll update as soon as I hear back from EA and CBC.





10/03/2026

SEND affects thousands of families across Central Bedfordshire.

Today I’m attending the council’s SEND Sub-Committee, where councillors scrutinise how well support is working for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Three issues come up repeatedly from families:

• EHCP assessments completed on time
• Enough specialist school places locally
• A system that works with parents, not against them

We’ll also be discussing the Government’s new SEND White Paper and what it might mean for the future of SEND support.

I’ll share an update after the meeting.





05/03/2026

Councillors met again this evening to continue the process of setting Central Bedfordshire Council’s budget after last week’s proposal did not pass.

The revenue budget was approved tonight, although with 19 councillors abstaining. I voted against, primarily due to the removal of council tax support for vulnerable households.

There were also several important decisions on the capital programme. I supported an amendment adding £3.96 million to highways repairs, which should allow potholes to be repaired properly rather than repeatedly patched.

I also supported bringing forward £500,000 of existing developer funding to support school changes in Stotfold and Arlesey.

However, I voted against the overall capital programme because it appears to predetermine the outcome for Ivel Valley School, something I have consistently supported in line with the public consultation.

Council tax was also set at the maximum permitted increase.

As always, my votes are guided by what I believe best represents the interests of residents and the communities we serve.




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Biggleswade

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