My Area UK

Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire is a town or village in Bedfordshire, England. It has around 1 restaurant or café, 2 bus stops, and the nearest railway station at Flitwick, 3.7 km away. There were around 9 recorded street crimes in June 2026, most commonly violence & sexual offences. Covers 70 towns with local open-data for the whole authority.

On deprivation, Central Bedfordshire is among the least deprived areas in England (IoD2019). It is home to around 294,252 residents at roughly 411 people per km².

60/ 100

My Area Score

Good

Ranked 76th of 294 English council areas — better than 74% of them.

Low crime88
Home affordability31
Affordable rents35
Good schools47
Life expectancy74
Low deprivation83
Employment68
Low council tax28

A percentile blend of eight open measures (100 = best in England); bars show this area’s England-wide percentile on each. See the rankings · methodology

Weather

18°COvercast

  • Today: 24° / 17° · 22% rain
  • Tomorrow: 21° / 12° · Sunny

Source: WeatherAPI

Daylight

Sunrise 06:31Sunset 19:23

12h 52m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

11US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: coarse particles (PM10)

Source: WAQI · Brent - Ikea, United Kingdom

Crime

10 reported · July 2026 50% YoY

  • Anti-social behaviour4
  • Violence & sexual offences3
  • Other theft1
  • Theft from the person1

Neighbourhood team: Flitwick, Ampthill, Marston and Cranfield · Bedfordshire

Source: data.police.uk (within ~1 mile)

Road safety

510 reported road collisions (2024)

125 killed or seriously injured · 738 casualties · 17.3 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

Food hygiene

35 food businesses within 2 miles

  • 32 rated 4–5 ★ (25 top)
  • 0 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

Flood risk

Flood data temporarily unavailable.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Flitwick (3.7 km)
  • 2 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Flitwick (3.7 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£356,453 average 2.9% YoY

Across Central Bedfordshire · to 2026-06

Detached£609,871
Semi-detached£377,764
Terraced£298,788
Flat£173,703

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£1,249 average monthly rent 3.6% YoY

  • 1 bed £864
  • 2 bed £1,097
  • 3 bed £1,374

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-07

Affordability

9.7× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 9.7 times median annual pay (10.7× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

Fuel prices

  • Cheapest petrol: 167.9p · Asda (11.9 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 187.9p · ESSO (11.6 km)

8 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

15 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 4 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 360 kW
  • Nearest: The Automated Technology Group (2.5 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Sports centres2
  • Swimming pools24
  • Sports pitches13
  • Playgrounds3

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local news

Population

294,252 residents in Central Bedfordshire · 411/km²

  • Under 16: 20%
  • 16–64: 62%
  • 65+: 18%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Deprivation

Among the least deprived areas in England

Ranked 264 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

Council tax

£2,516 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (27% of 134,350)

A £1,677
B £1,957
C £2,237
D £2,516
E £3,075
F £3,634
G £4,194
H £5,032

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

Schools

136 schools · 49,238 pupils

95 primary · 14 secondary · 27 other

Ofsted: 52 of 59 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (88%)

129inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Secondary schools:

  • Cedars Upper SchoolGood
  • Harlington Upper SchoolGood
  • Manshead Church of England AcademyGood
  • Redborne Upper School and Community CollegeGood
  • Fulbrook SchoolRequires improvement
  • All Saints Academy Dunstable
  • Edward Peake CofE VC School
  • Henlow Church of England Academy
  • Houstone School
  • Queensbury Academy
  • Samuel Whitbread Academy
  • Sandy Secondary School
  • Stratton School
  • Vandyke Upper School

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Central Bedfordshire

Care & health services

221 CQC-registered services

  • Care homes64
  • GP practices27
  • Dentists56
  • Homecare agencies56
  • Hospitals & hospices3

CQC ratings: 85% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 2 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Central Bedfordshire

Heritage & planning

  • Not in the Green Belt
  • 55 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

Planning decisions

359 applications decided

83.8% granted · 301 granted, 58 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Council control

Independent (minority)

  • Lab 4
  • Con 20
  • LD 8
  • Grn 1
  • Ref 2
  • Oth 28

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

Amenities nearby

  • Schools3
  • Parks & greens2
  • Restaurants & cafés1

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

13,830 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

Local economy

£869 median full-time weekly pay

2.6% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£26,560 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

Energy efficiency

54% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: C · 138,501 certificates

8.3% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

Health

Life expectancy: 84.4 yrs women · 82 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy: 60.9 women · 61.5 men

65% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

Wellbeing

  • Life satisfaction7.3
  • Feeling worthwhile7.8
  • Happiness yesterday7.3
  • Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.2

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

Local petitions

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Mid Bedfordshire:

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-08-06

Notable places nearby

  • Pulloxhill Grange · 1.0 km

    Pulloxhill Grange was a priory in Bedfordshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building.

  • Pulloxhill · 1.1 km

    Pulloxhill is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England 342 ft above sea level with a population of 850 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 985 at the 2011 Census.

  • Silsoe · 1.6 km

    Silsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. The village used to be on the main A6 road but a bypass around the village was opened in 1981 at a cost of £1.6m.

  • Flitton · 1.7 km

    Flitton is a village in the civil parish of Flitton and Greenfield, in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village derives its name from the River Flit which flows close by it. It is notabl…

  • Greenfield, Bedfordshire · 1.8 km

    Greenfield is a small village about 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of Flitwick in Bedfordshire, England. It lies across Flitwick Moor from the larger settlement of Flitwick and is on the opposite side of the River Flit.…

  • De Grey Mausoleum · 1.8 km

    The de Grey Mausoleum in Flitton, Bedfordshire, England, is one of the largest sepulchral chapels in the country. The mausoleum contains over twenty monuments to the de Grey family who lived in nearby Wrest Park. The…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)