DECEMBER 2021
UNHOLY ROW OVER GRACE LAND Wishing all of our readers, advertisers, deliverers and contributors a Happy Christmas and a huge thank you for your support
Cllr James Valentine
A MEETING of 120 residents of Kempston was organised on 19th November, with the support of local Bedford Borough Councillor Cllr James Valentine, to discuss the Grace Evangelical Church development ideas for Cemetery Road. Grace is consulting about its proposal to build a large church (600 seats) and meeting room complex with parking for 225 cars, enabled by building 70 houses and 10 flats on the site between Kempston Hammers and the Great Ouse viaduct on Frank Branson Way. The meeting heard a presentation from Paul Vicary of DevComms on behalf of
Pupil had shotgun in rucksack
by Jane Bird
Grace. He outlined the need for Grace to have a permanent home, and the services they provide to the community. This site has been chosen because its owners have agreed to donate it to the church. Grace has employed consultants to
KEMPSTON CALLING
AT Luton Crown Court on Thursday, November 25, 2021, a woman was found guilty of being in charge of the sawn-off shotgun that a 15-year-old boy took into a Kempston school in his rucksack. Other pupils alerted staff at the Kempston Challenger Academy and the boy was taken to Head Ian Evason’s office. When the black rucksack was searched, a gun was found wrapped in a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms inside a sports shop bag. There were also six live 12 bore cartridges, Luton crown court heard. Prosecutor George Heimler told the jury that as the boy was being taken from the school, the defendant Keesha Kalyan, now 20, took a photo which she circulated on social media. He alleged that she attached a caption that read: “Free my yung G… got bag with the Dotti” Mr Heimler said that Dotti was urban slang for a shot gun and G stood for gang member. Keesha Kalyan’s fingerprint was found on the draw string of the sports shop bag inside the rucksack. Keesha Kalyan, previously of Bedford but now living in Church Road, Cowley, Uxbridge, denied being in charge of a prohibited weapon on October 10, 2018, but was convicted by a jury. She will be sentenced on January12, 2022, by Judge Gary Lucie. The jury was told that the boy had pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon at the school at 9.15am in the morning of Friday, October 19, 2018. Mr Heimler said messages were “critical” in the case. On October 10, 2018 he said Keesha Kalya had texted the boy saying: “I am grabbing a dotti ffs don’t tell anyone.” Keesha Kalyan's case is that when she used the word Dotti it had nothing to do with a shotgun. She said she was referring to a religious artefact she had got as a present, relating to the Hindu festival of Diwali. She told the police she sent the photo of the boy being escorted from the school and had deleted it. She said somebody else had added the caption: “Free my yung G…….”
look at the biodiversity of the site, as planning law states that there must be a 10% net gain in biodiversity for developments. They have also employed flood risk specialists, who will develop a drainage strategy. Respondents included: Bill Ogle, Treasurer of Kempston Hammers Sports and Social Club (KHSSC), who pointed
Kempston loses out
A BID to win £15 million from the Levelling Up fund for Kempston has failed. The government’s levelling-up fund is designed to combat regional inequality by investing in infrastructure that “brings pride to a local area”, according to the scheme’s prospectus. The Kempston bid was focused on the Transport and Regeneration investment themes of the Levelling Up Fund, and included the following elements: Investments in walking and cycling infrastructure, including the reconstruction of two river bridges and structural maintenance of local roads. This will provide enhanced access to the town, particularly for people using bikes, mobility scooters, wheelchairs, prams or pushchairs, and create better connectivity between and within key retail, employment and leisure sites. Improvement of the public realm around the Saxon Centre, including the creation of an “event space” at the Saxon Centre Plaza and designing out opportunities for crime and anti-social behaviour, Regenerating key sites in order to encourage new businesses and public services to locate there, including the refurbishment of the Saxon Centre office block, to provide a new, flexible space for local businesses. Among the projects set out in the bid for Kempston were two foot bridges, cycle and foot path improvements (including street lighting), a cycle park, an e-bike charging hub and funding towards a new health hub. Kempston, which has five Labour party councillors and one Tory, on the Bedford Borough Council, has been short-changed over recent years, claim older residents who have seen their rural area turn into huge housing estate. Since the opening of the Bedford Bypass, 1,000s of new homes, most paying between £1,000 – £3,000 a year in local Council Tax paid to the
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out that KHSCC is a secular, non-profit organisation, who support a large number of indoor and outdoor sports. Without the income stream from hiring out their facilities (function halls etc), these sport facilities could be lost, as they are supported from this revenue. Further community facilities are not needed in Kempston, which has at least nine halls available for
hire, plus the school halls, and facilities in nearby villages. Competition from this new proposed development could make many of these unviable, leading to their loss A local resident, Peter Irving of Church Walk, spoke about the effects of the 2020 Christmas flood on himself and his neigh-
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