Borough of Bedford

Bedford Borough of Bedford
Borough and unitary authority
From left to right Top:Bedford Bridge with St Paul's Church and Shire Hall Middle: Kempston Church End and St Peter Church in Sharnbrook Bottom: The gatehouse to Turvey House in Turvey and the Wixams new settlement.
Coat of arms of Bedford Borough Council
Bedford shown within Bedfordshire
Coordinates: 52°8′0″N 0°27′0″W / 52.13333°N 0.45000°W / 52.13333; -0.45000
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	East of England
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Administrative HQ	Borough Hall, Bedford
Government
• Type	Unitary Authority
• Governing body	Bedford Borough Council
• MPs	Richard Fuller (C) Alistair Strathern (L) Mohammad Yasin (L)
Area
• Total	476 km2 (184 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[1]
• Total	187,466
• Rank	108th
• Density	393/km2 (1,020/sq mi)
Ethnicity (2021) [2]
• Ethnic groups	List 75.7% White 12.6% Asian 5.3% Black 4.6% Mixed 1.8% other
Religion (2021) [2]
• Religion	List 47.6% Christianity 34.1% no religion 11.2% other 7.1% Islam
Time zone	GMT
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time
ONS code	00KB
NUTS 3	UKH22
Website	bedford.gov.uk

Bedford, or the Borough of Bedford, is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The council is based in Bedford, the borough's namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire.

The Bedford built-up-area is the 71st largest in the United Kingdom and also includes Kempston and Biddenham.^[3] Away from the Bedford built-up area the borough includes a large rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford built-up and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the borough.

The borough is also the location of the Wixams new settlement, immediately south of Bedford, which received its first residents in 2009.