BEDFORD (BOROUGH)

Borough of Bedford
''Shown within the administrative county of Bedfordshire''
Geography
Status:	Borough
Region:	East of England
Admin. County:	Bedfordshire
Area: - Total	Ranked 104th 476.41 km²
Admin. HQ:	Bedford
ONS code:	09UD
Demographics
Population: - Total () - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	87.0% White 7.7% S.Asian 2.6% Afro-Carib 0.4% Chinese
Politics
The Arms of Bedford Borough Council Bedford Borough Council http://www.bedford.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Mayor & Cabinet
Mayor:	Frank Branston (Independent)
MPs:	Alistair Burt, Nadine Dorries, Patrick Hall

'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 comprised of 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. The former municipal borough of Bedford is mostly unparished (the ward of Brickhill is a parish), the rest of the district is parished.

Contents

Council and cabinet

Civil parishes

External links

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: 19

★ Liberal Democratic Party: 16

★ Labour Party: 12

★ Independents: 7 (plus the mayor)
The mayor heads a cabinet with independent, Conservative and Labour members.

Civil parishes

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

★ Biddenham, Bletsoe, Bolnhurst and Keysoe, Bromham

★ Cardington, Carlton, Chellington, Clapham, Colmworth

★ Dean and Shelton

★ Eastcotts, Elstow

★ Felmersham

★ Great Barford

★ Harrold

★ Kempston Rural

★ 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, Wymington

External links

★ Official site

★ Maps showing the internal boundaries of the borough