Bedford Borough encompasses 476 sq. kilometres in the northern half of Bedfordshire and includes the main towns of Bedford and Kempton. Bedford Borough Council became a unitary authority in April 2009, alongside Central Bedfordshire which covers the rest of the county – formerly made up of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils.
Bedford is home to just over 170,000 citizens, living in 75,650 households, and around two-thirds of our population live in the urban areas of Bedford and Kempston. Situated between Birmingham and London it has the advantage of close proximity to both the M1 and the A1, and has excellent transport links. Bedford is a very diverse borough with 2011 census figures indicating that 28.5% of the local population was from a black or minority ethnic community.
While Bedford Borough is in the mid-range on overall deprivation, ranking 150 out of 317 local authorities in 2019, there are areas of significant deprivation within the borough, particularly in the urban centres of Bedford and Kempston.
