The Mayor of Bedford is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty of

Bedford Borough Council Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The executive of the council is the direct ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. The incumbent is

Dave Hodgson David Stuart Hodgson MBE (born 21 October 1959) is the directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Hodgson is the second elected mayor to represent the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom. Hodgson was electe ...

of the Liberal Democrats who succeeded Frank Branston in 2009.

History

The first known reference to a Mayor of Bedford in England was in 1264. Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the Mayor of Bedford came into office on 29 September. The first Mayor of the reformed Corporation came into office on 1 January 1836, and subsequent Mayors on 9 November. After the Local Government Act, 1948, and the Local Government Act, 1972, the Mayors from 1949 onwards came into office in May. The civic mayor was replaced by a directly elected mayor in 2002. Since April 2009 the Borough of Bedford is a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, with the executive having the powers and functions of both a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...

and a non-metropolitan county.

Referendum

Bedford held a referendum on 21 February 2002 on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor after a petition was signed by at least 5% of the electorate. The move was approved with 11,316 voting in favour and 5,357 against on a turnout of 15.5%.

Elections

The first mayoral election on 17 October 2002 saw

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Frank Branston elected as mayor.

2002

2007

In 2007 Frank Branston was re-elected as mayor.

2009 By-Election

A by-election took place on 15 October 2009 after the death of the previous

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

, Frank Branston in August 2009. The by-election was won by the Liberal Democrat,

2011

Dave Hodgson was elected to a full term as mayor on 5 May 2011 after being elected to finish the term of Frank Branston in 2009.

2015

The 2015 mayoral election took place on 7 May 2015, the same day as elections of Bedford Borough Councillors, and the

UK General Election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, ...

. Hodgson was re-elected.

2019

The 2019 mayoral election took place on 2 May 2019, the same day as the

2019 Bedford Borough Council election The 2019 Bedford Borough Council election took place on 2 May 2019 to elect members of Bedford Borough Council in England. Bedford Borough Council has been under no overall control since 2010. The Conservatives defended fifteen seats, Labour ...

, part of the

2019 United Kingdom local elections Local elections in parts of the United Kingdom were held on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested. A total of 8,886 council ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Directly elected mayor of Bedford

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

* Borough of Bedford