Bedford (borough) Totally Explained

Everything about Bedford Borough totally explained

Bedford is a local government district with the status of a borough in the East of England. Its council is based at Bedford, which also serves as the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains a single urban area comprising Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. Unlike most English districts, Bedford's council is led by a directly-elected mayor, currently Frank Branston, who is an independent.
The Bedford District was formed on April 1, 1974 as a merger of the existing borough of Bedford, along with Kempston urban district and Bedford Rural District. In 1975 the district was granted a royal charter granting borough status as North Bedfordshire. The borough was renamed as Borough of Bedford in 1992. Over half of the former municipal borough of Bedford is unparished, however Brickhill is a parish, and Queens Park as well as Cauldwell & Kingsbrook elect their own urban community councils who have similar functions to parish councils. The rest of the district including Kempston is parished.
The Department for Communities and Local Government have reorganised Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, meaning that Bedford Borough Council will become a unitary authority in 2009. This means Bedford Borough will assume responsibility in areas such as education, social services and transport.

Council and cabinet

As of 2007 there are 54 councillors in addition to the mayor. Following the May 2007 local elections, these are broken down as follows:

Conservative Party: 20
Liberal Democratic Party: 16
Labour Party: 12
Independents: 6 (plus the mayor)

The mayor heads a corss party cabinet with independent, Conservative and Labour members. (Lib Dems refused to work on Mayors cabinet)

Wards and civil parishes

The towns of Bedford and Kempston are divided into 13 wards, some of which are also civil parishes:

Castle

Harpur

Newnham

Putnoe

Queens Park The civil parishes in the rural part of the borough are as follows:

Biddenham, Bletsoe, Bolnhurst and Keysoe, Bromham

Cardington, Carlton, Chellington, Clapham, Colmworth

Eastcotts, Elstow

Harrold

Knotting and Souldrop

Little Barford, Little Staughton

Melchbourne and Yielden, Milton Ernest

Oakley, Odell

Pavenham, Pertenhall, Podington

Ravensden, Renhold, Riseley, Roxton

Sharnbrook, Stagsden, Staploe, Stevington, Stewartby, Swineshead

Thurleigh, Turvey

Wilden, Willington, Wilshamstead, Wootton, WymingtonFurther Information

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