Central Bedfordshire.
Independent-controlled unitary. £288m net revenue. 31 wards across 5 parliamentary constituencies.
29 Jun 2026
Independent chamber, 2-party MP geography.
Central Bedfordshire is a unitary controlled by Independent (27 of 63 seats). Net revenue is £288m for 2025-26. It covers 31 wards spanning 5 parliamentary constituencies. The MP geography crosses 2 parties — a heterogeneous setup.
Who sits in the chamber.
Independent 43% · last contested 4 May 2023
Councillors — the people.
| Councillor | Ward | Elected | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Summerfield | Ind | Ampthill | 2023 |
| Mark Andrew Smith | Ind | Ampthill | 2023 |
| Susan Heather Clinch | Grn | Ampthill | 2023 |
| Jodie Chillery | Ind | Arlesey & Fairfield | 2023 |
| Nick Andrews | Lab | Arlesey & Fairfield | 2023 |
| John Michael Baker | Ind | Aspley & Woburn | 2023 |
| Anna French | Ind | Barton-le-Clay & Silsoe | 2023 |
| Liz Childs | Ind | Barton-le-Clay & Silsoe | 2023 |
| Gareth Tranter | Ind | Biggleswade East | 2023 |
| Grant Graham Fage | Con | Biggleswade East | 2023 |
| Hayley Whitaker | Ind | Biggleswade West | 2023 |
| Paul How | Ind | Biggleswade West | 2023 |
Where revenue comes from.
This is a high-council-tax unitary authoritie: 74% of revenue from council tax, above the cohort median (59%).
Source · MHCLG — Final LGFS 2025-26 Core Spending Power table · derived (CT exact; grants/rates split from SFA baseline)
Band-D bill.
| Council slice | £1,840 |
| County / upper-tier | £0 |
| Police | £279 |
| Fire & rescue | £118 |
| GLA precept | £0 |
| Parish average | £158 |
| Total Band-D | £2,394 |
Parish precepts apply on top, vary by parish
Use the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings.
How does Central Bedfordshire split its revenue across services, compared with peer unitary authoritie-class councils? Each row is one of the ten standard service buckets. The vertical line at the centre is the cohort median share; the coloured square is where this council sits. Squares to the right of centre mean a bigger share of revenue than the median peer; to the left, a smaller share.
The subtitle on each row (“X% of net spend”) is what share of this council’s revenue goes to that service. The rank (“15 of 61”) is where this council sits within the cohort, sorted by that share descending. The delta (“+26% vs median”) is a relative reading: the council allocates 26% more of its revenue to that service than the median peer would. A small absolute difference can still be a big relative one.
Higher share doesn’t mean waste — it can reflect demographic need (more older residents), rurality, or a policy choice (e.g. keeping a service in-house). Lower share doesn’t mean efficiency — some councils move costs to fees, ringfenced accounts, or grants. £-per-head would be sharper than share-of-revenue; LAD population is pending ingest. Comparisons are within the same council type only.
Central Bedfordshire’s territory crosses 5 Westminster constituencies, with 2 MP parties represented. The middle column shows how much of the council each seat carries.
| Constituency | Wards | % of council | Current MP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard | 11 | 35% | Alex Mayer | Lab |
| Mid Bedfordshire | 9 | 29% | Blake Stephenson | Con |
| North Bedfordshire | 5 | 16% | Richard Fuller | Con |
| Hitchin | 4 | 13% | Alistair Strathern | Lab |
| Luton South and South Bedfordshire | 2 | 6% | Rachel Hopkins | Lab |
This council holds 3 Lab and 2 Con MPs. That’s an unusually heterogeneous geography for a Independent-controlled unitary — most weeks one MP is asking the council for something and another is praising it.
Sources, methods & last update
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (historic)
Core Spending Power table · 2025-26
vs 62 other unitary authorities
Police, Fire, Parish on top
Not yet ingested for Central Bedfordshire
2023 boundaries
Pending ingest at LAD level