Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a unitary authority. It was created in 2009.

Central Bedfordshire
Local government district
Top:Leighton Buzzard Market Cross Bottom: Alameda in Ampthill and Shefford High Street.
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
• Body	Central Bedfordshire Council
• Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
• Executive:	No overall control
• MPs:	Richard Fuller (C) Rachel Hopkins (L) Alex Mayer (L) Alistair Strathern (L) Blake Stephenson (C)
Area
• Total	276 sq mi (716 km2)
• Rank	45th
Population  (2022)
• Total	301,501
• Rank	Ranked 47th
• Density	1,100/sq mi (420/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 90.2% White 3.5% Asian 3% Mixed 2.4% Black 0.8% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 47.9% Christianity 42.8% no religion 8% other 1.3% Islam
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ISO 3166-2	GB-CBF
ONS code	00KC (ONS) E06000056 (GSS)
Website	centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Formation

Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedfordshire. The Bedfordshire County Council and all the district councils in the county were abolished, with new unitary authorities created providing the services which had been previously delivered by both the district and county councils. Central Bedfordshire was created covering the area of the former Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire Districts.^[2][3]

The local authority is called Central Bedfordshire Council.

Parliamentary representation

Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Central Bedfordshire would be split between five parliamentary constituencies:^[4]

• Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (entirety)
• Hitchin (part also in the District of North Hertfordshire)
• Luton South and South Bedfordshire (part)
• Mid Bedfordshire (part)
• North Bedfordshire (part)

Towns and villages

See also: Civil parishes in Bedfordshire

Map of wards within Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire comprises a mix of market towns and rural villages. The largest town is Leighton Buzzard followed by Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Dunstable and Houghton Regis form part of the Luton/Dunstable urban area. Central Bedfordshire includes the following towns and villages.

• Ampthill (town)
• Arlesey (town)
• Aspley Guise
• Barton-le-Clay
• Biggleswade (town)
• Blunham
• Broom
• Caddington
• Campton
• Clifton
• Clophill
• Chalton
• Chicksands
• Cranfield
• Dunstable (town)
• Dunton
• Eaton Bray
• Eversholt
• Fairfield
• Flitton
• Flitwick (town)
• Greenfield
• Harlington
• Haynes
• Heath and Reach
• Henlow
• Higham Gobion
• Houghton Conquest
• Houghton Regis (town)
• Husborne Crawley
• Kensworth
• Langford
• Leighton Buzzard (town)
• Lidlington
• Linslade (town)
• Marston Moretaine
• Maulden
• Meppershall
• Millbrook
• Northill
• Old Warden
• Pepperstock
• Potton (town)
• Pulloxhill
• Ridgmont
• Sandy (town)
• Shefford (town)
• Silsoe
• Shillington
• Slip End
• Southill
• Stanford
• Steppingley
• Stotfold
• Sutton
• Tebworth
• Tempsford
• Toddington
• Westoning
• Wingfield
• Wixams (new town, partly in Central Bedfordshire and partly in the Borough of Bedford)
• Woburn
• Woodside

See also

• List of places in Bedfordshire