Transition Bedford

After realising that the Bishop of Bedford was campaigning on climate change i thought i’d see what i could find out about other influential figures of

Duke of Bedford

the region. I did a web search using terms such as Duke of Bedford and “Green”, “Eco”, “Environment”, “Climate Change” and “Renewable”. After these failed to yield any connections, i tried “conservation” given that the Duke is a substantial land owner. Relevant findings were pretty scarce. If anyone knows of any green and transition related activities of our local Duke, please do post them here. For that matter if you know of any high profile local residents that are supportive of a transition to a more just, sustainable and vibrant community, please do let us know. It would be nice to know about people who aren’t necessarily white middle classed males too. Not that i have anything against them, being one.

What i found was that previous Dukes were;

- connected to the ” worlds first ever ecological experiment” and linked to Darwin

- gave some land to allotments

- involved in captivated breading of a near extinct bread of dear

but these are all activities of previous Dukes of Bedford and not the current one. I know that he is the land owner of one or more of our local ancient (or very old) woodlands that have been managed and coppiced for centuries. The one in Ampthil was earmarked to become a Centre Parks, much to the dismay of some residents. While this deal was to make the Duke significantly richer by building on Green Belt land and environmentally there are clearly negative issues, the environmental debate about the development is not clear cut. The land adjacent to the woods was donated to The Forest of Marston Vale. It could be argued that the forest will stay largely intact, while not accessible by locals and there is the argument that by providing local tourist destinations, it is supporting the transition to a low carbon tourism.

Any comments or reviews of local people of influence warmly welcomed.