Houghton Regis Town Council is composed of 14 elected Councillors. The most recent Town Council elections took place in May 2023, with those elected serving a four-year term.
Town Councillors serve on a voluntary basis and do not receive any payment or allowances.
Each year, Councillors elect one of their members as Town Mayor. The Mayor chairs Council meetings and represents the Council both locally and at civic engagements.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, all Councillors and co-opted members are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests. The Register of Interests is maintained by the Monitoring Officer at Central Bedfordshire Council and is available on their website.
Houghton Regis Town Council is also a signatory to the Civility and Respect Pledge.
Unless otherwise stated on individual profiles, Councillors can be contacted via the Council offices at: Houghton Regis Town Council, Peel Street, Houghton Regis, LU5 5EY
I was born, raised and educated in Coventry, the only child of a baker and confectioner. After A-levels, I trained with a firm of chartered accountants, but was never successful in passing the final qualifying examination. Having during training discovered a talent for taxation, I moved to Birmingham to specialise in corporate taxation. In 1985, I was successful in obtaining a job in London, and, in 1986, I moved to Houghton Regis with my wife and two boys.
In 1999, i was elected to the Town Council for the first time and went on to serve for 16 years, stepping down in 2015. I was greatly priviledged to be the Town Mayor in 2012/13. From 2002 to 2015, also, i was a councillor on South Bedfordshire District Council and it's successor authority, Central Bedfordshire Council.
Why you stood as a councillor:
I stood as a candidiate to become a councillor again in the elections of 2019 for two reasons. Firstly, i was invited to do so by my colleagues in the Liberal Democrats. Secondly, watching from the sidelines for the past four years, I have been dismayed to see the Town Council make a number of what I consider to be doubtful decisions, and to seemingly lurch form crisis to crisis. This may be my perception from the newspaper coverage, but I did see some council papers on various items, and I resolved that, given the opportunity, I would do whatever I could to change that perception.
What are you hoping to achieve:
In their letter to postal voters before the elections, Susan Goodchild and Yvonne Farrell, our two elected Central Bedfordshire Councillors, wrote "The(then) Town Council under no overall control has managed to lose confidence of Central Bedfordshire Council as a service partner". That has to change. My approach during my previous 16 years as a Town Councillor was always to work as closely as possible with the upper tier authorities. In local government, they generally hold the pursestrings, and, if the Town Council requires funding for projects, etc., we want them to have sufficient confidence in us to spend their money in this town rather than in some other parish/town a few miles away.
If I achieve this, but nothing else, during the next four years, I shall be a happy man. Otherwise, I am simply hoping to restore the Town Council's previous reputation for good and sensible governance on behalf of all it's residents.
Cllr Farrell, who has a background in farming, the legal profession, and show business, finally settled in Houghton Regis in 1989 with her late husband and part-time stepchildren.
Yvonne was first elected in the May 2018 by-election and was re-elected in the local elections in May of 2019. She was also elected as a Councillor for Central Bedfordshire Council. She has run her own business as an entertainment advisor for many years.
Yvonne has many interests, and her extremely diverse background helps her be an active member of the Corporate Services, Environment and Leisure committees. Another area of dedication is keeping people safe and well and she is often seen wearing a hi viz jacket as a member of the Watch groups patrolling the streets and trouble spots of Houghton Regis or educating motorists to slow down!
Having two elderly parents, one with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type, she is caring and considerate with residents who sometimes struggle. Working with the local authorities for people with mental health problems has widened her knowledge in this area.
Her motto
"Onwards and upwards, think positive and never look back.”
I would like to introduce myself. I am Jimmy Carroll, and I have lived on Parkside since 1974. Before that, I lived in Tithe Farm from 1962.
My Parents moved from North London, where I was born in 1959.
I was educated at Thornbury Infants School. Hillsborough Junior School. Queensbury Upper School.
I had several driving jobs until I joined the Bedfordshire Ambulance Service in November 1982 as a Patient Transport Driver. I transitioned to front-line Ambulance duties and qualified as an Ambulance Technician on June 8th 1984. With the changing role of the Ambulance Service, I qualified in Extended Ambulance Training Skills on 29th April 1988. I then qualified as an Ambulance Paramedic with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance Service on the 27th November 1992. Certificate number HT 161.
I left the Ambulance Service in November 1999. I worked for the AA as a Recovery Patrol from January 2000 until 2010.
I have had many local interests over the years. These include the Scout and Cub Scouts, the Houghton Regis Memorial, and the Houghton Regis Carnival.
I was first elected to the Town Council in July 2014 in a by-election and have been re-elected in two subsequent elections.
I am a mother of Four. I have lived in Houghton Regis for seventeen year. For ten years I volunteered as a carer and helper for children and adults with learning difficulties. I then went onto become a live-in carer for three adults with learning difficulties, sight and physical disabilities. I lived with them for five years, helping them with everyday duties, travel and ultimately independence. When I moved to Houghton Regis, I became a legal consultant but then went on to be a carer for elderly people.
Why You stood as a Councillor:
I retied a few years ago but I feel there are still things I can offer to the community. I care about the welfare of people, young and old. Much as I love living in Houghton Regis, there are improvements that can be made. I want people to feel safe and to care about where they live.
What are you hoping to achieve:
To Improve lighting on Parkside, so residence will feel safer? Rid Parkside off all the rubbish that has accumulated and hopefully discourage further fly-tipping. Preserve our green spaces and improve sport facilities. To be aware of and get more involved in the health and welfare of local residences. To try and help Houghton Regis to be a nice place to live.
I have lived in Houghton Regis for 38 years. My children and their families all live locally on the Parkside ward. I worked locally for over 30 years at Houghton Regis leisure centre, Tiddenfoot leisure centre and Dunstable leisure centre. At all 3 sites I was the General Manager.
I now work for a health and safety company that work closely with local authorities and leisure centres and have the Sports England contract for the accreditation for leisure centres known as Quest.
Why you stood as a councillor:
I stood as a local councillor due to how run down the Parkside estate has become. During lock down I walked around the area for about 2 hours each day and when going through parts of the estate I was shocked at how everything looked so neglected. This made me contact my local councillors to see if anything could be done. From there on I was interested in how I could help.
What are you hoping to achieve:
Hopefully to get the estate tidied up, needed repairs identified and acted on quickly. Many roads have dangerous potholes so I hope to report these to Central Bedfordshire Council to make them aware of the repair needed. We do have some unsocial behaviour with motor bikes especially but generally I hope to make people aware that Houghton Regis is a nice place to live and we have some great things going on in the area, we just need to give some parts more attention.
Cllr McMahon and her family are long standing residents of Houghton Regis.
Her family moved here in the 1960s and Tracey stayed and raised her family here.
Tracey is active in the local community being involved in the Wildlife Trust at Houghton Regis Quarry, Craft and Coffee, the Houghton Regis Heritage Society and was previously the Chair of the Houghton Regis Leisure Centre Action Group (HRLCAG).
She has worked in administration and retail.
Through her involvement in the HRLCAG Tracey felt that to be able to ‘effect change you have to be change’ and as such stood for election to help the community to be heard, to bring the community together and to work with the Council team to secure improvements or residents.
Of particular interest to Tracey is support and encouragement of young people, issues of fly tipping and dog waste, to help those disaffected and to seek to put the Pride back into Houghton.
Abby has lived in Houghton Regis all her life. She is a qualified teacher and now works in special education, teaching locally. She graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Hons) degree from the university of Hertfordshire. Abby enjoys going to festivals and playing the saxophone. Living near Houghton Hall Park with her partner has meant they can both keep fit and enjoy Houghton's best facilities. Fundraising has been part of Abby's life for as long as she can remember- starting with raising school funds at boot sales as a child and more recently fundraising for charities such as SNOOSC, Dunstable Fire Station and Kids In Action.
Why you stood as a Councillor:
One of the reasons Abby stood as a councillor is that she believes it is important for young people to have their voice heard in decision making. This begins by finding ways to engage young people.
Sport and music have played a huge part in Abby's life. She says "participating in sport and music can bring great benefits to individuals and to our community as a whole. Physical and mental wellbeing is developed by taking part in these activities and they are both enjoyable as well!"
What are you hoping to achieve:
Even though funding will always be in short supply, she believes Houghton needs good quality sporting facilities that meet the needs of our residents and the new housing development offer opportunities to address this problem- the views of residents must be heard.
I have lived in Houghton Regis for over 35 years, teaching in a local upper school. I support the 1st/3rd Houghton Regis scout group and I am church warden at All Saints our parish church. This is a heritage site welcoming visitors interested in exploring the history of the town. My concern about the rise of homelessness led me to join Signposts, our local homeless charity, where I am a Director and Trustee. I enjoyed my time as Town Mayor and being involved with the Events working group for the last eight years, helping to organise the Carnival and Houghton Rocks. I’m a bit of a gardener and have two border collies who take me for walks locally, around our wonderful open spaces. Along with other recreational facilities these places are essential for our well-being. It is important to protect and improved them in the future.
Why you stood as councillor:
As a busy teacher with three children, I was confined to voluntary work like fundraising and after school activities. Retiring has allowed me an opportunity to give something back to our Town. I think we should all do our bit when we can. Also, I must admit, I do enjoy meeting people and being involved in all the many activities that take place in our community.
I enjoyed my time as Town Mayor, and took every opportunity to remind those I met that the people of Houghton achieve so much every day, especially when it comes to helping others. It is often done with few resources and often goes unrecognised.
To be honest, I think those who live and work in Houghton deserve a better quality of life, especially when it comes to our environment, recreational facilities and opportunities for young people.
What are you hoping to achieve:
I want to work with all the Town Councillors to ensure that wise decisions are made, which get the best value for the money (the “precept”) we spend. As to the much larger amount of rate payer’s money, that is spent by Central Beds Council, I will argue we should be treated fairly and that the needs of our community are recognised.
Specifically, I want to support any initiative that seeks to meet the needs of young people and their families in these difficult times. The provision of Leisure activities is not an optional “extra”, but a vital ingredient in encouraging a healthy lifestyle.
Doing whatever we can to protect our open spaces has become essential, at a time when legislation will make it easier to build wherever the planners want to put houses.
Having a nicer environment is also about feeling safer by having more visible policing. Let our local police do the job they do best, out in the community meeting and talking and reassuring us all.
"I was born in Luton and moved to Houghton Regis in 1983 after my marriage so I have lived in the town for some 40 years.
I hold a degree in psychology, and I am a people person and like to help people where I can. I am a hobby cake baker for friends, family but have also donated many charity cakes to the L&D hospital, Macmillan, Breast Cancer, Children in Need fund raising events and frequently send in cakes for hungry hospital porters.
We do a joint neighbour Halloween display event every year for the local children giving out over 500 bags of sweets on our October 22 Halloween Fest, which the local children love. We enjoy watching the joy and awe on children’s faces as they walk through the animated Halloween display."
Why did you stand as a councillor:
"Through the Town Council and as a councillor I will look to help secure improvements in Houghton Regis to improve people’s quality of life and improvements in the area in which we live in.
For residents and for me personally living in the area, we have the constant nuisance of speeding/racing cars on the new A5/M1 link road in addition to the speeds of vehicles across all our roads in the town.
We also have the nuisance of illegal motorcycle riders on our roads across the whole of Houghton Regis that have no care for other road users or for the safety of pedestrians when they ride their motorcycles on pedestrian footpaths. I hope as councillors, we can help to address this town wide problem.
Those that live in Houghton Regis deserve a better quality of life, environment in which we live, recreational facilities and opportunities for young people."
What are you hoping to achieve during your term in office:
"To work with all Town Councillors to address town problem of nuisance motorcycle riders, speeding vehicles on local residential roads and new Woodside Link road being used as a racetrack.
To ensure as councillors we try to make the best decisions to get the best value for money for Houghton Regis council tax payers and that a fairer amount of CBC money is spent on our area. Residents of Houghton Regis should be treated equally and the needs of the community recognised.
To protect our open green spaces for community leisure activities and general use for residents as play areas for children. Having a nicer environment and also residents feeling safer in our town, we need more visible policing in our town to address crime. Speaking to many residents the issue of a new cemetery, fly tipping, dog waste is a concern for residents. Improvements to the area to put the pride back into our town."
Central Bedfordshire Councillors for Houghton Regis
Cllr Farrell who has farming, legal profession and show business background finally settled in Houghton Regis in 1989 with her late husband and part-time step children.
Yvonne was first elected in the May 2018 by-election and was re-elected in the local elections in May of 2019. She was also elected as a Councillor for Central Bedfordshire Council. She has run her own business as an entertainment advisor for many years.
Yvonne has many interests and her extremely diverse background helps with her being an active member of the Corporate Services and Environment and Leisure committees. Another area of dedication is keeping people safe and well and she is often seen wearing a hi viz jacket as a member of the Watch groups patrolling the streets and trouble spots of Houghton Regis or educating motorists to slow down!
Having two elderly parents, one with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type, she is caring and considerate with residents who struggle sometimes. Working with the local authorities for people with mental health problems has widened her knowledge in this area.
Her motto
Onwards and upwards, think positive and never look back.”
Cllr McMahon and her family are long standing residents of Houghton Regis.
Her family moved here in the 1960s and Tracey stayed and raised her family here.
Tracey is active in the local community being involved in the Wildlife Trust at Houghton Regis Quarry, Craft and Coffee, the Houghton Regis Heritage Society and was previously the Chair of the Houghton Regis Leisure Centre Action Group (HRLCAG).
She has worked in administration and retail.
Through her involvement in the HRLCAG Tracey felt that to be able to ‘effect change you have to be change’ and as such stood for election to help the community to be heard, to bring the community together and to work with the Council team to secure improvements or residents.
Of particular interest to Tracey is support and encouragement of young people, issues of fly tipping and dog waste, to help those disaffected and to seek to put the Pride back into Houghton.
