My Area UK

Cardington

Cardington is a village in Bedfordshire, England, with a population of around 288. It has around 1 GP surgery, around 1 pharmacy, and around 3 restaurants and cafés, with 2 bus stops and the nearest railway station being Bedford St Johns, 3.8 km away. In June 2026, there were around 53 recorded street crimes, most commonly violence & sexual offences. This page gathers weather, crime, food hygiene, transport, flood risk, house prices, population, deprivation and your local MP for the Cardington area — all from official UK open data.

On deprivation, the Bedford area is around the average in England (IoD2025). The wider council area has around 185,227 residents at roughly 389 people per km².

Council
Bedford
County
Bedfordshire
Constituency
North East Bedfordshire
Police force
Bedfordshire
46/ 100

My Area Score

Mixed

Ranked 174th of 294 English council areas — better than 41% of them.

Low crime51
Home affordability39
Affordable rents46
Good schools69
Life expectancy42
Low deprivation48
Employment22
Low council tax40

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

7°COvercast

  • Today: 11° / 6° · 18% rain
  • Tomorrow: 10° / 6° · Overcast

Source: WeatherAPI

Daylight

Sunrise 07:04Sunset 16:26

9h 22m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

42US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Northampton Spring Park, United Kingdom

Air pollution (PM2.5)

  • 7.1 µg/m³ average fine-particle (PM2.5) concentration
  • 5.3% of adult (30+) deaths estimated attributable to fine-particle pollution

Lower is better for both figures.

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2024

Crime

Crime data is temporarily unavailable.

Road safety

293 reported road collisions (2025)

69 killed or seriously injured · 383 casualties · 15.8 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

Food hygiene

95 food businesses within 2 miles

  • 85 rated 4–5 ★ (69 top)
  • 1 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

Flood risk

No active flood warnings nearby.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Bedford St Johns (3.8 km)
  • 2 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Bedford St Johns (3.8 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£330,462 average▲ 1.1% YoY

Across Bedford · to 2026-08

Detached£557,923
Semi-detached£348,256
Terraced£278,279
Flat£159,840

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£1,173 average monthly rent▲ 3% YoY

  • 1 bed £800
  • 2 bed £1,029
  • 3 bed £1,260

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-08

Affordability

9.1× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 9.1 times median annual pay (9.3× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

Property sales

2,128 property sales in the last 12 months

12 months to May 2026

A busier or quieter market is not by itself good or bad. Monthly counts are small and volatile, so only the annual total is shown.

Source: HM Land Registry UK HPI, 12 months to 2026-05

Fuel prices

  • Cheapest petrol: 168.9p · Asda (7.9 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 195.9p · ESSO (11.2 km)

3 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

47 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 14 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 300 kW
  • Nearest: Bedford iLab Priory Buisness Park (0.9 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Swimming pools1
  • Sports pitches6
  • Playgrounds12

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Population

185,227 residents in Bedford · 389/km²

  • Under 16: 20%
  • 16–64: 63%
  • 65+: 17%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Internal migration

  • Moves in from elsewhere in the UK10,498
  • Moves out to elsewhere in the UK10,187
  • Net moves+311

Residential moves between local authorities (counts of moves, not people) · ONS Internal migration, YE Jun 2025

Deprivation

Around the average in England

Ranked 141 of 296 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

4% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025

Council tax

£2,472 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (25% of 80,810)

A £1,648
B £1,922
C £2,197
D £2,472
E £3,021
F £3,570
G £4,120
H £4,943

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

Schools

84 schools · 35,150 pupils

53 primary · 12 secondary · 19 other

Ofsted: 35 of 38 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (92%)

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

Secondary schools:

  • Bedford Free SchoolOutstanding
  • Bedford AcademyGood
  • Goldington AcademyGood
  • St Thomas More Catholic SchoolGood
  • Mark Rutherford SchoolRequires improvement
  • Wixams AcademyRequires improvement
  • Biddenham International School and Sports College
  • Daubeney Academy
  • Kempston Academy
  • Lincroft Academy
  • Sharnbrook Academy
  • Wootton Academy

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Bedford

Care & health services

269 CQC-registered services

  • Care homes73
  • GP practices34
  • Dentists50
  • Homecare agencies81
  • Hospitals & hospices8

CQC ratings: 82% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 7 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Bedford

Heritage & planning

  • In a conservation area (Cardington)
  • Not in the Green Belt
  • 39 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

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

Planning decisions

321 applications decided

79.4% granted · 255 granted, 66 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Your MP

Richard Fuller

Conservative

North Bedfordshire

Recent votes:

  • NoRailways Bill: Carry-over extension (Motion)
  • AyeSporting Events Bill [Lords] Report: Amendment 8
  • AyeSporting Events Bill [Lords] Report: Amendment 6
  • NoBudget Resolution No. 86: High value council tax surcharge

Source: UK Parliament

Council control

Conservative majority · directly-elected mayor

  • Lab 12
  • Con 14
  • LD 13
  • Grn 4
  • Oth 3

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

Amenities nearby

  • Schools1
  • GPs & clinics1
  • Pharmacies1
  • Parks & greens5
  • Restaurants & cafés3

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

8,405 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

Local economy

£780 median full-time weekly pay

4.5% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£24,626 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 · 90,060 certificates

9.5% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

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

Grid electricity

80% low-carbon electricity

Wind 49% · Nuclear 21% · Gas 18% · Biomass 11%

86 gCO₂/kWh · low intensity

Latest estimate for East England · National Grid ESO

Health

Life expectancy: 83.4 yrs women · 80.2 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy: 62.7 women · 62.5 men

73% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

Wellbeing

  • Life satisfaction7.5
  • Feeling worthwhile7.7
  • Happiness yesterday7.6
  • Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.4

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

Health services

5 GP surgeries · 2 pharmacies in MK44

  • Sharnbrook Surgery
  • Great Barford Surgery
  • St. John'S Care Home

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Local petitions

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in North Bedfordshire:

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-10-05

Notable places nearby

  • Cardington, Bedfordshire · 0.3 km

    Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.

  • Cardington railway station · 0.6 km

    Cardington was a railway station on the Bedford to Hitchin Line which served the village of Cardington in Bedfordshire, England. Opened in 1857, it gave more than a century of service before closing in 1962.

  • Heart Bedford · 0.9 km

    Heart Bedford was an Independent Local Radio station based in the Priory Business Park in Bedford, Bedfordshire in England.

  • Cardington Workmen's Platform railway station · 1.0 km

    Cardington Workmen's Platform was a railway station on the Bedford to Hitchin Line which served the Royal Air Force station near the village of Cardington in Bedfordshire, England. A short-lived halt, it opened during…

  • Real Bedford F.C. · 1.0 km

    Real Bedford Football Club is a football club in Bedford, England, established in 2002 as a merger of Bedford United and US Valerio. They are members of the Southern League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier o…

  • Biggleswade F.C. · 1.2 km

    Biggleswade Football Club is a football club based in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England. The club are currently members of the Southern League Division One Central and groundshare at Bedford Town's Eyrie ground in Ca…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)

Frequently asked questions

Where is Cardington?
Cardington is a town in Bedfordshire, England, in the Bedford local authority.
What is the population of Cardington?
Cardington has an approximate settlement population of 288.
How deprived is Cardington?
The Bedford local authority, which includes Cardington, is around the average in England on the IoD2025.