Bedford Borough Councillor Alison Foster has slammed Mayor Dave Hodgson for making a number of claims in recent months to ‘embellish’ his record in office.

At the beginning of September, Cllr Foster highlighted the Mayor’s attempts to ‘take the credit’ for a scheme to remove temporary classrooms at schools in Bedford Borough even though it is being funded from £4.8m in central government grants.

Cllr Foster has since noted other instances in which the Mayor has significantly exaggerated his contribution such as the freezing of Council Tax, the maintenance of weekly bin collections and the bringing forward of key highways infrastructure funded by the Government.

Cllr Foster, who represents Harrold Ward said:

‘Mayor Hodgson has done his utmost to try and pull the wool over residents’ eyes by claiming the credit for a number of schemes that have been funded by the Government.

‘The Council has frozen Council Tax in the last 4 years only because it has received around £5.1m from the Government for this purpose.  Before the grant was available Mayor Hodgson and the Liberal Democrats increased Council Tax by 2.3% in their first year and documents recently approved by his Executive have outlined plans to increase Council Tax by 1.5% a year if the Government’s Freeze Grant is no longer available after the election.  Weekly bin collections have also been protected to 2016/17 due to a £2.3m grant from the Government.

‘Perhaps the Mayor’s most ambitious claim is to claim responsibility for the forthcoming second phase of the Bedford Western Bypass even though the scheme was initiated by former Mayor Frank Branston and the £15.975m cost is being funded from various sources of Government  contributions.  He also has the Government’s ‘Pinch Point’ fund to thank for the £5.6m improvement works to the Black Cat roundabout.’