Central Bedfordshire
—  Unitary Authority  —
Official logo of Central Bedfordshire logo
Shown within Bedfordshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Founded	1 April 2009
Admin. HQ	Chicksands
Government
• Type	unitary authority
• Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
• Executive:	Conservative
• MPs:	Alistair Burt (C) Nadine Dorries (C) Gavin Shuker (L) Andrew Selous (C)
Area
• Total	276.3 sq mi (715.7 km2)
Area rank	52nd
Population (2010 est.)
• Total	255,200
• Rank	Ranked 49th
• Density	920/sq mi (360/km2)
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Postcode
ISO 3166-2
ONS code	00KC
OS grid reference
NUTS 3
Ethnicity	97.3% White
Website	centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Bedfordshire County Council, Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire on 1 April 2009. The unitary council provides over a hundred services to 120,000 homes and over a quarter of a million people.^[1]

Administrative history[link]

Since 1974, Bedfordshire had been governed as a shire county, mostly under the control of Bedfordshire County Council. It was divided into three local government districts, Bedford Borough, Mid Bedfordshire, and South Bedfordshire. Luton Borough became a unitary authority in 1997.

In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The four proposals considered were:

• Proposal 1, To abolish the three districts within the county to create a Bedfordshire unitary authority. (Luton would remain a separate unitary authority.)
• Proposal 2, To create two unitary authorities: one based on the existing Bedford Borough, and the other, to be known as Central Bedfordshire, a combination of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire Districts. (Luton would remain a separate unitary authority.)
• Proposal 3, To create two unitary authorities: one a combination of Bedford Borough and Mid Bedfordshire District, and one a combination of Luton Borough and South Bedfordshire District.
• Proposal 4, To form an "enhanced two-tier" authority, with the four local councils under the control of the county council, but with different responsibilities.^[2][3]

On 6 March 2008 the DCLG decided to implement Proposal 2. This meant that from 1 April 2009 there would be three unitary authorities in Bedfordshire: Bedford, Luton and the new Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council initially challenged this decision in the High Court, but on 4 April 2008 it was announced the Judicial Review in the High Court had been unsuccessful, and the County Council declared they would not be appealing the decision.^[4][5][6][7]

Subsequently, a shadow council for Central Bedfordshire was formed from all the members of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire councils, as well as all Bedfordshire County Council members from the Central Bedfordshire area. The inaugural meeting of the shadow council was held on 10 April 2008. A shadow Executive for the council was also formed consisting of 4 members of each council. The shadow Executive (and council) were led by Tricia Turner (former leader of Mid Bedfordshire District).^[8]

Elections[link]

Before the creation of Central Bedfordshire Council in 2009 the three former authorities had a total of 139 Councillors between them. As a result of the merger this was reduced to 59 in 2011.

The first elections for the new Central Bedfordshire Council were held on 4 June 2009 when 66 councillors were elected from 28 wards.^[9] Since significant boundary changes in 2011 Central Bedfordshire has since had 59 councillors.^[10]

Since May 2011 the Council has been led by James Jamieson with a cabinet of six portfolio holders.,^[14].

Towns and villages[link]

Unitary authorities in Bedfordshire. Central Bedfordshire is number 2

The Central Bedfordshire area includes the following towns and villages which were previously located in Mid and South Bedfordshire. Central Bedfordshire is an area of mostly small towns and villages. However, the towns of Dunstable and Houghton Regis form part of the Bedfordshire's largest conurbation with neighbours Luton.

See also[link]

• List of places in Bedfordshire

References[link]

External links[link]

• Central Bedfordshire Council Website

v t e Districts of the East of England Essex Basildon Braintree Brentwood Castle Point Chelmsford Colchester Epping Forest Harlow Maldon Rochford Southend-on-Sea Tendring Thurrock Uttlesford Hertfordshire Broxbourne Dacorum East Hertfordshire Hertsmere North Hertfordshire St Albans Stevenage Three Rivers Watford Welwyn Hatfield Bedfordshire Bedford Central Bedfordshire Luton Cambridgeshire Cambridge East Cambridgeshire Fenland Huntingdonshire Peterborough South Cambridgeshire Norfolk Breckland Broadland Great Yarmouth King's Lynn and West Norfolk North Norfolk Norwich South Norfolk Suffolk Babergh Forest Heath Ipswich Mid Suffolk St Edmundsbury Suffolk Coastal Waveney

v t e Unitary authorities of England Districts Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Borough Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Borough of Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Borough of Halton Borough of Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Borough of Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Borough of Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Borough York Councils Bournemouth Cornwall Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Middlesbrough Northumberland Nottingham Poole Rutland Shropshire Slough Thurrock Wiltshire

Bedfordshire
Flag of Bedfordshire
Motto of County Council: Constant Be
Geography
Status	Ceremonial county
Origin	Historic
Region	East of England
Area - Total	Ranked 41st 1,235 km2 (477 sq mi)
ISO 3166-2	GB-BDF
ONS code	09
NUTS 3	UKH22
Demography
Population - Total (2010 est.) - Density	Ranked 36th 614,800 498 /km2 (1,290 /sq mi)
Ethnicity	86.3% White 8.3% S.Asian 2.9% Black.
Politics
No county council
Members of Parliament	Alistair Burt (C) Nadine Dorries (C) Richard Fuller (C) Kelvin Hopkins (L) Gavin Shuker (L) Andrew Selous (C)
Districts
Bedford (Unitary) Central Bedfordshire (Unitary) Luton (Unitary)

Bedfordshire ( /ˈbɛdfərdʃər/ or /ˈbɛdfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Beds.) is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.

It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east.

The highest elevation point is 243 metres (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns.

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Bee Orchid as the county flower.^[1]

The traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is "Bedfordshire Bulldogs" or "Clangers", this last deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust dumpling filled with meat or jam or both.

It is the 14th most densely populated county of England and the fifth most densly populated non-metropolitan county with over half the population of the county living in the two largest built up areas of Bedford (102,000) and Luton (236,000).^[2]

History[link]

The first recorded use of the name was in 1011 as "Bedanfordscir," meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing).

Bedfordshire was historically divided into the nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbournestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and borough of Bedford. There have been several minor changes to the county boundary; for example, in 1897 Kensworth and part of Caddington were transferred from Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire.

Geography[link]

The southern end of the county is part of the chalk ridge known as the Chiltern Hills. The remainder is part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries. Most of Bedfordshire's rocks are clays and sandstones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with some limestone. Local clay has been used for brick-making of Fletton style bricks in the Marston Vale. Glacial erosion of chalk has left the hard flint nodules deposited as gravel—this has been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes, at Priory Country Park, Wyboston and Felmersham. The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across the county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.

Climate[link]

Bedfordshire is relatively dry, being situated in the east of England. Average annual rainfall is 584.4mm at Bedford.^[3] June is the wettest month with 56.9mm, February the driest with 36.6mm. While there is little difference from month to month there are more wet days in autumn and winter but often heavier individual falls in spring and summer, of note were the 1998 Easter floods.^[4]

Average temperatures in Bedford range from a minimum of 0.6C overnight in February to 21.5C during the day in July and August. In the last 20 years the highest temperature recorded was 35.9C.^[5] During the cold December 2010, temperatures fell beneath -15C in parts of the county (i.e. Woburn).

Politics[link]

Local government[link]

For local government purposes, Bedfordshire is divided into three unitary authorities: the boroughs of Bedford and Luton, and the District of Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council was abolished on 1 April 2009, although the three districts continue to form a county for ceremonial functions such as lieutenancy and High Sheriff.^[6] Many services in the county, such as education and public libraries, continue to be provided jointly by Central Bedfordshire and Bedford as if they were a single unitary authority.^[7]

Emergency services[link]

Policing, fire and rescue services continue to be provided on a county-wide basis, with the Bedfordshire Police Authority and Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority consisting of members of the three councils.^[8]

Parliamentary constituencies[link]

For elections to the House of Commons, Bedfordshire is divided into six constituencies, each returning a single member of parliament:

• Bedford
• Luton North
• Luton South
• Mid Bedfordshire
• North East Bedfordshire
• South West Bedfordshire

The present constituencies date from 1997.^[9] The boundaries were slightly modified for the 2010 general election.^[10]

Economy[link]

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Bedfordshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Bedfordshire is the location of a number of notable UK and international companies who have either headquarters or major bases in the county. Autoglass, Boxclever and Charles Wells Pubs are all based in Bedford, while the Kier Group and Kingspan Off-Site are based in Sandy, and Jordans Cereals are based in Biggleswade.

The Alexon Group, Blue Arrow, EasyJet, Monarch Airlines, Thomson Airways and Vauxhall Motors are all based in Luton, while Whitbread (including Costa Coffee) is based in nearby Dunstable. UltraVision is based in Leighton Buzzard, while Moto Hospitality is based at Toddington service station.

Visitor attractions[link]

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

Transport[link]

Although not a major transport destination, Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link London to the Midlands and Northern England.

Roads[link]

Two of England's six main trunk roads pass through Bedfordshire:

• The A1 London to Edinburgh road (the Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy
• The A5 London to Holyhead road (Watling Street), passes through Dunstable

To these was added in 1959 the M1 motorway, the London to Leeds motorway. This has three junctions around Luton, one serving Bedford and another serving Milton Keynes.

Former trunk roads, now local roads managed by the local highway authority include A428 running east-west through Bedford Borough, and A6 from Rushden to Luton.

Railways[link]

Three of England's main lines pass through Bedfordshire:

• The West Coast Main Line has but a short section in the far west of the county. The one station at Leighton Buzzard is served by London Midland trains to London Euston and Northampton.
• The East Coast Main Line has stations at Arlesey, Biggleswade and Sandy, served by First Capital Connect services to King's Cross and Peterborough
• The Midland Main Line serves Luton and Bedford with trains to many destinations operated by East Midlands Trains and First Capital Connect.

There are rural services also running between Bedford and Bletchley along the Marston Vale Line.

Taxis[link]

Bedfordshire is served by a large number of taxi companies. Luton is reported to have the highest number of taxicabs per head of population in the United Kingdom with a number of firms competing for work in the town and from London Luton Airport.

Waterways[link]

The River Great Ouse links Bedfordshire to the Fenland waterways. As of 2004 there are plans by the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust to construct a canal linking the Great Ouse at Bedford to the Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes, 14 miles (23 km) distant.^[15]

Air[link]

London Luton Airport has flights to many UK, European, Middle Eastern and North African destinations, operated largely but not exclusively by low-cost airlines.

Settlements in Bedfordshire[link]

Education[link]

The state education system for all of Bedfordshire used to be organised by Bedfordshire County Council. Unlike most of the United Kingdom, Bedfordshire County Council operated a three-tier education system arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967, although Luton continued to operate a two-tier system. The three-tier arrangement continues in the rest of the county, though in 2006 a vote was held with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but this was rejected.^[16]

After the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, Bedfordshire County Council was abolished, and its responsibilities for education were passed to Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. Though Central Bedfordshire plans to continue with the three-tier model in its area, Bedford Borough Council voted in November 2009 to change to the two-tier model in its area.^[17][18] The change was due to be introduced over a five year period and be completed in 2015.^[19] However, with the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010, the borough has changed its proposals, and the switch is now proceeding on school by school basis where council funds allow.

Bedford and Central Bedfordshire[link]

Until the division into two unitary authorities in April 2009, education in the area continued to be administered by Bedfordshire County Council.

All of the two councils' upper schools offer 6th form courses (such as A Levels), though Bedford College, Central Bedfordshire College and Shuttleworth College also offer a range of further education courses. Additionally, Stella Mann College is a private college (based in Bedford), which offers a range of further education courses relating to the performing arts.^[20][21]

There are a number of independent schools, many of which have links to the Harpur Trust. Including Bedford School for boys (formerly Bedford Grammar School), Bedford Modern School co-educational Bedford Girls' School (The school was founded in 2010 as the result of the merger between Dame Alice Harpur School and Bedford High School) Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School co-educational.

Luton[link]

Luton also operates a three-tier education system though Luton's organisation of infant, junior and high schools mirrors the traditional transfer age into secondary education of 11 years. However most of Luton's high schools do not offer 6th form education. Instead this is handled by Luton Sixth Form College, though Barnfield College also offers a range of further education courses.

Higher education[link]

There are two universities based in the county – the University of Bedfordshire and Cranfield University. These institutions attract students from all over the UK and abroad, as well as from Bedfordshire.

Landmarks[link]

The enormous Cardington Hangars are situated to the south of Bedford near the village of Cardington. They were built to house the construction of airships in WW1 and whilst one has been used for many purposes, such as a film set for Charlie and the Chocolate factory and Batman Returns and rehearsal space for Take That, the other is in severe disrepair.

Sports[link]

Bedfordshire is home to Luton Town F.C. and Bedford Blues Rugby Team amongst other various sporting teams.

Notable people from Bedfordshire[link]

Bibliographical references[link]

• Bedfordshire Magazine (quarterly)^[22]
• Elstow Moot Hall leaflets on John Bunyan and 17th century subjects^[22]
• Guide to the Bedfordshire Record Office 1957 with supplements.^[22]
• Guide to the Russell Estate Collections Published in 1966.^[22]
• Conisbe, L. R. (1962) A Bedfordshire Bibliography (supplement, 1967)^[22]
• Dony, John (1953) A Bedfordshire Flora. Luton: Corporation of Luton Museum & Art Gallery^[22]
• Dony, John (1942) A History of the Straw Hat Industry. Luton: Gibbs, Bamforth & Co.^[22]
• Freeman, Charles (1958) Pillow Lace in the East Midlands. Luton: Luton Museum and Art Gallery^[22]
• Godber, Joyce (1969) History of Bedfordshire 1066-1888^[22]
• White, H. O. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society (published annually)^[22]

See also[link]

• Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire
• High Sheriff of Bedfordshire

References[link]

External links[link]

England portal

• Bedfordshire at the Open Directory Project

Neighbouring counties

	Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire	Cambridgeshire
	Buckinghamshire		Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire
		Bedfordshire    East
	Buckinghamshire	Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire

v t e Unitary authorities of England Districts Bath and North East Somerset Bedford Borough Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Bristol Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Durham Borough of Darlington Derby East Riding of Yorkshire Borough of Halton Borough of Hartlepool Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Luton Medway Middlesbrough Borough of Milton Keynes North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Northumberland Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rutland Shropshire Slough Southampton Southend-on-Sea South Gloucestershire Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent Borough of Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Wiltshire Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Borough York Councils Bournemouth Cornwall Herefordshire Isle of Wight Kingston upon Hull Leicester Middlesbrough Northumberland Nottingham Poole Rutland Shropshire Slough Thurrock Wiltshire

Coordinates: 52°08′09″N 0°28′05″W / 52.13583°N 0.46806°W / 52.13583; -0.46806