Bedford Borough have received £154k from the Government’s Welcome Back Fund to help Bedford successfully reopen after lockdown.
The Conservative group on the Borough Council welcomed this new boost from the Government following previous grants of £1m from the Towns’ Fund and £1.76m from Historic England which has now brought up the total support that Bedford Borough Council has received up to nearly £3m.
The Conservatives are pushing the Borough Council to make good use of this money, producing a safe reopening environment that will revitalise and reinvigorate the town centre whilst supporting Bedford’s businesses.
Commenting, Bedford Borough Council Conservative Deputy Group Leader Cllr Roger Rigby said: “The £154k boost from the Welcome Back Fund for Bedford is very welcome, this will help Bedford reopen safely and I hope provide initiatives to encourage people to visit Bedford again.
“Two uses of this funding should be to provide three hours of free parking at multi-storey car parks every day for the next three months and to give our market traders free pitches for the first three months to re-establish the market. These two initiatives alone will support the reopening of the town centre and cost the borough nothing.”
