Your council

Bedford: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Bedford Borough Council: Unitary authority (unitary), England, East of England. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E06000055.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Bedford for 2026–27: £2,011.28 of a £2,471.74 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

Broadmead Lower School (primary) — open, but proposed to close; reason recorded: closure; proposed date 31 August 2027

In the last twelve months: 1 opened (1 academy converter), 2 closed (1 result of amalgamation/merger, 1 academy converter)

Castle Newnham School (secondary) — closed; reason recorded: result of amalgamation/merger, 31 August 2026
Wilstead Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 28 February 2026
Wilstead Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 March 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Bedford reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Bedford: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£101.5 million
Highways and transport services	£10.4 million
Children's social care	£58.9 million
Adult social care	£95.4 million
Public health	£10.0 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£17.0 million
Cultural and related services	£8.3 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£18.9 million
Planning and development services	£1.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£9.6 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£331.7 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Bedford in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 194,976 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 39 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £24,626 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £689 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 24.9% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 4.4% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £333,824 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 8.4 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 62.7 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 62.5 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.8 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 85.4% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 149.2 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 7,815 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

46 seats in 2026. Run by: CON Mayor, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Conservative and Unionist 14, Liberal Democrats 13, Labour Party 12, Green Party (E&W) 4, Independent / Other 3.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 46 councillors, by ward

Jon Gambold (Conservative and Unionist) — Biddenham
Charles Royden (Liberal Democrats) — Brickhill
Wendy Rider (Liberal Democrats) — Brickhill
Dylan Simmons (Conservative and Unionist) — Bromham
Robert Rigby (Conservative and Unionist) — Bromham
Lucy Bywater (Green Party (E&W)) — Castle & Newnham
Paul Edmonds (Green Party (E&W)) — Castle & Newnham
Abu Sultan (Labour Party) — Cauldwell
Fouzia Zamir Atiq (Labour Party) — Cauldwell
Harish Thapar (Labour Party) — Cauldwell
Jane Walker (Conservative and Unionist) — Clapham & Oakley
Jonathan Abbott (Liberal Democrats) — Clapham & Oakley
David Sawyer (Liberal Democrats) — De Parys
Henry Vann (Liberal Democrats) — De Parys
Christine McHugh (Liberal Democrats) — Goldington
Tim Caswell (Liberal Democrats) — Goldington
Phillippa Martin-Moran-Bryant (Conservative and Unionist) — Great Barford
James Weir (Conservative and Unionist) — Great Denham
Ben Foley (Green Party (E&W)) — Greyfriars
Colleen Atkins (Labour Party) — Harpur
Zara Layne (Labour Party) — Harpur
Alison Foster (Conservative and Unionist) — Harrold
Caroline White (Green Party (E&W)) — Kempston Central & East
Mohammed Nawaz (Labour Party) — Kempston Central & East
Sue Oliver (Labour Party) — Kempston North
Carl Meader (Labour Party) — Kempston South
James Valentine (Labour Party) — Kempston West
Dean Crofts (Liberal Democrats) — Kingsbrook
Ralley Rahman (Labour Party) — Kingsbrook
Max Royden (Liberal Democrats) — Putnoe
Michael Headley (Liberal Democrats) — Putnoe
Mohammed Mahboob Din (Independent / Other) — Queens Park
Mohammed Masud (Labour Party) — Queens Park
Nesreen Akhtar (Labour Party) — Queens Park
Nicola Gribble (Independent / Other) — Renhold & Ravensden
Martin Towler (Conservative and Unionist) — Riseley
Hilde Hendrickx (Liberal Democrats) — Riverfield
Doug McMurdo (Independent / Other) — Sharnbrook
Leigh Coombs (Liberal Democrats) — Shortstown
Sarah Gallagher (Conservative and Unionist) — Shortstown
Andrea Spice (Conservative and Unionist) — Wixams & Wilstead
Graeme Coombes (Conservative and Unionist) — Wixams & Wilstead
Marc Frost (Conservative and Unionist) — Wixams & Wilstead
John Wheeler (Conservative and Unionist) — Wootton & Kempston Rural
Sue Abood (Liberal Democrats) — Wootton & Kempston Rural
Sharan Sira (Conservative and Unionist) — Wyboston

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.