You’d have to be living under a rock to have missed the new paintwork on Dickens Boulevard. Yellow lines appeared around the junction with Kipling Crescent and the entrance to the Tesco carpark last month following months of discussion over the merits and demerits. Central Bedfordshire Council confirmed in February’s Fairfield Parish Council meeting that there will be high presence from the CBC Enforcement Officer to back up the measure. Although not universally popular, the lines do appear to be making people think twice about blocking the junction, improving visibility for all.

Further up the road is another new measure to improve visibility, answering a call by residents for a proper crossing since a child was knocked down there in 2017 – and you may have noticed child-shaped cutouts popping up against some of the bollards, a traffic calming solution designed to make drivers think about real children crossing. 

Very few parking spaces have been lost, but additional parking is still on the cards for the grassed verge adjacent to the phone box library when Kipling Crescent is eventually adopted by the council.