Bedford

Bedford

Bedford is located in Bedfordshire, England and it is a county town. Borough of Bedford along with Kempston had a population of about 166,252 in 2015. Henry 1 built Bedford Castle, and it was damaged in 1224. Thameslink on Midland Mainline with stopping services to Brighton and London handles Bedford and also express services to East Midlands, and London dealt with by East Midlands Trains.

Education

Bedford Borough manages three-tier education system in few areas which are ordered in lower, middle and upper schools as suggested in the Plowden Report of 1967. In 2006 arrangement was put to the vote in 2006 to (or “intending to”) becoming a two-tier model but it was rejected. In 2010 Labour government was defeated and new coalition government provided the funding necessary to switch to a two-tier system would not be available. The result of this, switch proceeded on a school by school basis where council funds allowed as national funding was due to cover much cost. In September 2015, Bedford Academy, Biddenham Internation School, Bedford Free School, St Thomas More Catholic School and Mark Rutherford School are all secondary school in Bedford. Some middle and lower school also continued to operate in this city.

The schools are Bedford School for boys (aged 7-18), Bedford Girls School (aged 7-18), Bedford Modern School, Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School. Smaller private institutions in Bedford include St Andrew’s School, Rushmoor School and Polam School, none of them is part of Harpur Trust. University of Bedfordshire campus is also located in Bedford, which was the earlier campus of De Montfort University. For higher education, this town has Bedford College. Stella Mann College is a private college that provides a broad range of graduate courses related to arts.

Governance

Bedford is the largest settlement located in Borough of Bedford. Council of Borough is led directly by elected mayor who holds this title ‘Mayor of Bedford ‘. Frank Branston first held this office. Frank Branston died in 2009. The present mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson from Liberal Democrat Party.

Bedford is divided into ten wards: Castle, Cauldwell, Goldington, Harpur, Brickhill, De Parys, Kingsbrook, Putnoe, Newnham, Queens Park, Kempston West and Kempston East. Brickhill elects its parish council while remaining Bedford is an unparished area. Bedfordshire police serve Bedford. Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner of this force is Kathryn Holloway. Existing Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford is Mohammed Yasin who is a member of Labour Party.