My Area UK

Cranfield

Cranfield is a town in Bedfordshire, England, with a population of around 5,369. It has around 7 restaurants and cafés, 10 bus stops, and the nearest railway station is Lidlington, 5.1 km away. There were around 17 recorded street crimes in June 2026, most commonly Other theft. This page gathers weather, crime, food hygiene, transport, flood risk, house prices, population, deprivation and your local MP for the Cranfield area — all from official UK open data.

On deprivation, the Central Bedfordshire area is less deprived than the average in England (IoD2025). The wider council area has around 294,252 residents at roughly 411 people per km².

Council
Central Bedfordshire
County
Bedfordshire
Constituency
Mid Bedfordshire
Police force
Bedfordshire
60/ 100

My Area Score

Good

Ranked 82nd of 294 English council areas — better than 72% of them.

Low crime88
Home affordability31
Affordable rents34
Good schools47
Life expectancy73
Low deprivation78
Employment69
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

7°CPatchy rain nearby

  • Today: 11° / 7° · 37% rain
  • Tomorrow: 11° / 5° · Patchy rain nearby

Source: WeatherAPI

Daylight

Sunrise 07:01Sunset 16:30

9h 30m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

Air quality

30US 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

31 reported · August 2026▲ 41% YoY

  • Burglary14
  • Anti-social behaviour7
  • Public order3
  • Violence & sexual offences3

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

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

Road safety

475 reported road collisions (2025)

113 killed or seriously injured · 688 casualties · 16.1 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

Food hygiene

38 food businesses within 2 miles

  • 31 rated 4–5 ★ (22 top)
  • 0 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

Flood risk

No active flood warnings nearby.

Buses & trains

  • Nearest station: Lidlington (4.5 km)
  • 7 bus stops within ~½ mile

Live trains from Lidlington (4.6 km):

Loading live departures…

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

House prices

£355,263 average▲ 0.1% YoY

Across Central Bedfordshire · to 2026-08

Detached£603,864
Semi-detached£376,156
Terraced£299,898
Flat£173,335

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

Private rents

£1,250 average monthly rent▲ 3.7% YoY

  • 1 bed £865
  • 2 bed £1,097
  • 3 bed £1,376

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

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

Property sales

4,398 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: 157.9p · BP (10.3 km)
  • Cheapest diesel: 192.9p · BP (10.3 km)

3 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

EV charging

34 charging locations within ~8 km

  • 17 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
  • Fastest nearby: 350 kW
  • Nearest: Cranfield University (1.4 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

Sport & leisure

  • Sports centres1
  • Swimming pools5
  • Sports pitches10
  • Playgrounds13

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)

Internal migration

  • Moves in from elsewhere in the UK20,665
  • Moves out to elsewhere in the UK16,435
  • Net moves+4,230

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

Deprivation

Less deprived than the average in England

Ranked 230 of 296 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025

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%)

129 inspected 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

224 CQC-registered services

  • Care homes64
  • GP practices27
  • Dentists56
  • Homecare agencies58
  • Hospitals & hospices3

CQC ratings: 85% of rated services Good or Outstanding

Source: Care Quality Commission · Central Bedfordshire

Heritage & planning

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

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

Planning decisions

421 applications decided

81.5% granted · 343 granted, 78 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Your MP

Blake Stephenson

Conservative

Mid Bedfordshire

Recent votes:

  • NoDraft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026
  • NoWithdrawal Agreement (Windsor Framework and Governance) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
  • NoDraft Code of Practice on Access and Unfair Practices During the Recognition and Derecognition Process
  • NoDraft Railways (Interoperability in Northern Ireland) (Convention on International Carriage by Rail) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Source: UK Parliament

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

  • Schools4
  • GPs & clinics1
  • Pharmacies1
  • Supermarkets1
  • Parks & greens4
  • Restaurants & cafés11

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

Local businesses

14,040 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

Jobs

48 jobs advertised · £37,419 avg

e.g. Van Driver, Site Engineers Senior Site Engineers, Handyman

Source: Adzuna

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

Grid electricity

84% low-carbon electricity

Wind 54% · Nuclear 21% · Gas 15% · Biomass 9%

71 gCO₂/kWh · low intensity

Latest estimate for East England · National Grid ESO

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

Health services

4 GP surgeries · 4 pharmacies in MK43

  • Harrold Medical Practice
  • Marston Forest Healthcare
  • The Vale Medical Practice

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Local petitions

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Mid Bedfordshire:

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

Notable places nearby

  • Cranfield · 0.1 km

    Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001, increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in…

  • Cranfield Airport · 0.7 km

    Cranfield Airport is an airfield just outside the village of Cranfield, in Bedfordshire, England. It is about 12 miles (19 km) by road south-west of central Bedford and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) east of Milton Keynes city c…

  • Cranfield Court · 0.9 km

    Cranfield Court was a country house in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England. It belonged to the Harter family.

  • Cranfield United F.C. · 1.3 km

    Cranfield United Football Club is a football club based in Cranfield, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association. They are currently members of the Spar…

  • Cranfield University · 1.4 km

    Cranfield University is a postgraduate public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management.

  • Cranfield School of Management · 1.5 km

    Cranfield School of Management, established in 1967, is a business school that is part of Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom. Cranfield School of Management is triple accredited by the Association of…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)

Compare Central Bedfordshire with nearby areas

Frequently asked questions

Where is Cranfield?
Cranfield is a town in Bedfordshire, England, in the Central Bedfordshire local authority.
What is the population of Cranfield?
Cranfield has an approximate settlement population of 5,369.
How deprived is Cranfield?
The Central Bedfordshire local authority, which includes Cranfield, is less deprived than the average in England on the IoD2025.