No Broken Windows in Bedford
Reclaiming Bedford: Paper No. 2
In the early 1990s, New York City faced what felt like irreversible decline. Crime was rampant, public spaces were decaying, and confidence in the city’s future was falling. But then something remarkable happened. Under Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton, a new strategy was introduced: Broken Windows Policing.
The theory came from criminologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. Their argument was simple but profound: if a window is broken and left unrepaired, it sends a message that no one cares. And if no one cares, small crimes escalate into larger ones. The answer was to take the small things seriously: fix broken windows, clean up graffiti, tackle petty crime, and uphold public order.
This approach wasn’t about zero-tolerance brutality; it was about setting and enforcing standards that made law-abiding citizens feel safe again. And it worked. Crime plummeted, businesses returned, and New York experienced one of the most dramatic urban turnarounds in modern history.
Similar Crossroads
Walking through Bedford’s town centre, as with so many across the country, you can sense echoes of the decay New York once faced: rubbish on the High Street, boarded-up shops, public drunkenness, open drug use and entire buildings left to rot. It’s all too easy to grow numb to it, to accept this decline as the new normal. But this isn’t normal, and if we don’t act, it will only get worse.
The town centre isn’t just a place where people buy things. It is the heart of our town: our economic engine and our social commons. It’s where people come to work, relax, meet friends, support local businesses and build lives. When we neglect the town centre, we do more than let buildings decay, we allow our civic life to collapse.
Reversing Terminal Decline
Terminal decline doesn’t happen overnight, it creeps. First, footfall drops as people no longer feel safe or welcome. Businesses struggle and eventually shut their doors. Jobs are lost. What’s left behind is a vacuum, quickly filled by anti-social behaviour, addiction, crime, and despair.
The fewer reasons people have to come to town, the more it becomes a place people avoid. And when we lose the town centre, we lose more than an economic hub, we lose pride, opportunity, and community.
We can reverse this decline, reclaim our town and build a place where businesses thrive, families feel safe, and our community can flourish once again. It starts with the will to act.
Clarity, Courage & Discipline
Discipline in public life means upholding standards. It means drawing boundaries. And it means refusing to confuse empathy with enabling destructive behaviour.
Too often, local authorities fall into what Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy: a well-meaning but ultimately self-destructive instinct to tolerate behaviour that ruins public life for the majority. I’ve seen it firsthand in America’s progressive cities. San Francisco is the prime example. As Michael Shellenberger writes in San Fran-sicko, misguided compassion has led to a city where open-air drug markets, untreated mental illness, and aggressive homelessness are tolerated under the guise of social justice, while families and businesses suffer. In short, progressive policies ruin cities.
Let us say this clearly: there is no place for misguided progressive policies that allow a small minority to make life unbearable for everyone else in Bedford. We’ve tried the liberal approach. It has failed. Now it is time for tough love, order, and responsibility.
Bold Actions
To restore Bedford, we must take bold and unapologetic action:
Expand and Enforce the PSPO (Public Space Protection Order)
The Council already has the powers to address anti-social behaviour, but they are too narrow, too weak, and rarely enforced. We need to expand the PSPO zone to cover the entire town centre and enforce it vigorously. That means no more turning a blind eye to groups of alcoholics gathering on the green at the top of the High Street, drinking, fighting, vomiting and scaring residents. If the police won’t enforce it, the Council should deputise a private security team.Zero Tolerance for Drug Crime
Open drug use has become common in the town. With it comes petty theft, intimidation, and an atmosphere of danger. Business owners are sick of watching crackheads shoplift and make the public car parks feel unsafe. The police must be told in no uncertain terms: the town centre is a no-go zone for drugs. Arrests must happen. Enforcement must be visible.Clamp Down on Aggressive Begging
Not all begging is the same. Some is coercive, some is criminal, some is part of organised activity. We need a clear distinction between those in genuine need, who should be supported, and those harassing residents, intimidating shoppers, or running scams. The public must feel safe and unbothered in town.Review the Housing of Vulnerable Populations in the Town Centre
There are people who want help and want to change. They should be supported. But those who refuse help, persistently offend, or fuel anti-social behaviour should be excluded from the town centre. HMOs that have effectively become crack houses must be shut down, and those abusing the housing system must lose access to it. We are not obligated to subsidise destruction.Stop the Importing of Other Councils’ Problems
It is outrageous that councils like Luton are offloading their most difficult cases onto Bedford. If someone is placed here without a connection to the town and brings disruptive behaviour, they should be supported to return to their community. Bedford is not a dumping ground.Clean the Streets and Raise Standards
Basic civic pride starts with clean streets. Today, too many areas are filthy with overflowing bins, takeaway litter, smashed bottles. Businesses must take responsibility for the area outside their premises. The Council must enforce cleanliness standards. When the streets are clean, people feel different and they behave differently too.
Civic discipline
Civic discipline isn’t about punishing the vulnerable, it’s about protecting the community. It is about drawing a line between help and harm. It’s about making Bedford safe for the elderly, welcoming for families, and vibrant for entrepreneurs.
The liberal approach, based on vague compassion and endless tolerance, has led to decay. What we need now is a return to conservative principles: structure, responsibility, pride in place, and hard work. That’s how we restore our town.
We act now or we lose what’s left.
No more broken windows in Bedford.
