South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, 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 ...
of
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 ...
, in the
East of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
. Its main towns were
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...
,
Houghton Regis
Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, East of England.
The parish is located in Central Bedfordshire, which includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Bedfordshire, Bidwell, Thorn, Bedfordshire, Th ...
and
Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is northwes ...
.
Creation
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a general reorganisation of local authorities in England and Wales carried out under the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
. South Bedfordshire was formed by the amalgamation of three districts:
*
Dunstable Municipal Borough;
*
Leighton-Linslade Urban District
Leighton-Linslade was an urban district in Bedfordshire, England from 1965 to 1974.
Formation
Leighton-Linslade Urban District was created on 1 April 1965 as a merger of Leighton Buzzard Urban District in Bedfordshire and Linslade Urban Dist ...
; and
*
Luton Rural District
Luton Rural District was a local authority in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It covered an area which almost surrounded but did not include the towns of Luton and Dunstable.
Formation
The district had its origins in the Luton Rural ...
.
[
The council initially used the former Dunstable Borough Council offices at Grove House in Dunstable as its headquarters, but also continued to use the former Leighton-Linslade offices at the White House in Leighton Buzzard and the former Luton Rural District Council offices on Sundon Road in Houghton Regis. A new headquarters for the council was built in 1989 on the site of the former ]Dunstable North railway station
Dunstable North was a railway station on the London and North Western Railway's branch line from Leighton Buzzard which served Dunstable in Bedfordshire from 1848 to 1967. Originally the terminus of the London and North Western Railway's bran ...
, which was initially known as the South Bedfordshire District Council Offices, but was later renamed Watling House.
Civil parishes
The district comprised the following civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es:
*Barton-le-Clay
Barton-le-Clay is a large village and a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire Borough in Bedfordshire, England, bordering Hertfordshire. The village has existed since at least 1066 and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''.
History
Ancie ...
*Caddington
Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south).
The western border of the parish is Watlin ...
* Chalton
*Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...
(Town)
*Eaton Bray
Eaton Bray is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about three miles south-west of the town of Dunstable and is part of a semi-rural area which extends into the parish of Edlesborough. In the 2011 United Kingdom c ...
*Heath and Reach
Heath and Reach is an English village and civil parish near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is north of Leighton Buzzard and south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. Nearby places are Leighton-Linslade, ...
*Houghton Regis
Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, East of England.
The parish is located in Central Bedfordshire, which includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Bedfordshire, Bidwell, Thorn, Bedfordshire, Th ...
(Town)
*Hockliffe
Hockliffe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire on the crossroads of the A5 road which lies upon the course of the Roman road known as Watling Street and the A4012 and B5704 roads.
It is about four miles east of Leighton Buzzard. Near ...
* Hyde
* Leighton-Linslade (Town)
*Kensworth
Kensworth is a village and civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish is located on the edge of Dunstable Downs, and includes the hamlets of California and Kensworth Lynch.
The parish was origi ...
*Slip End
Slip End is a village and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. The village is located very near to Luton. As well as the village of Slip End, the parish contains the hamlets of Lower Woodside, Woodside and Pepperstock. In 2001 it had ...
* Stanbridge
* Streatley
*Studham
Studham is a village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It has a population of 1,128. The parish bounds to the south of the Buckinghamshire border, and to the east is the Hertfordshire border. The village lies in the wooded south ...
*Sundon
Sundon is a civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire.
There are two settlements: the one called Upper Sundon at the top of the hill is now the main village, and the presumably older one by the church is now a hamlet called Lower Sun ...
*Toddington Toddington could be
*Toddington, Bedfordshire
**Toddington services, M1 motorway
*Toddington, Gloucestershire
**Toddington railway station
Toddington railway station serves the village of Toddington in Gloucestershire, England. Since 1984 it h ...
*Totternhoe
Totternhoe is a village and civil parish in the Manshead hundred of the county of Bedfordshire, England.
Overview
Totternhoe is an ancient village in southern Bedfordshire, near Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. Totternhoe Knolls has been a for ...
*Whipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 4.2 km south-south-west of Dunstable on the top of the Dunstable Downs which drop away steepl ...
Elections and political control
The first election to South Bedfordshire District Council took place on 7 June 1973, with the 45 councillors elected forming a shadow authority until 1 April 1974.[ Following ward boundary changes, the number of councillors was increased to 53, with an election of the whole council held in 1976. The council resolved to hold elections by thirds thereafter. Councillors had a four-year term of office, and one third of the council was elected in three years out of four. Elections to ]Bedfordshire County Council
Bedfordshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Bedfordshire in England. It was established on 24 January 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 2009. The county council was based in Bedford.
In 1997 Luton Borough ...
took place in years that there were none to the district council. In 2002 the wards were again redrawn, and the size of the council was reduced to 50 members.[ An election of the whole council was held on the new boundaries.][ The electoral cycle continued by thirds in later years. The elections due to take place in May 2008 were cancelled, with councillors staying in office until the abolition of the council in 2009.
The first council elected was under no overall control, with the ]Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
having the largest number of councillors. The party dominated the council for most of its existence, gaining a majority in 1976 which they held until 1995. In 1996 they were supplanted by the Labour Party as the largest grouping on the council, in a year that saw a strong vote against the unpopular Conservative government of John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
. In 1999 the Liberal Democrats briefly became the largest group on the council, which remained under no overall control. The Conservatives staged a recovery in 2000, taking 10 seats from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and again gaining a plurality of councillors. They subsequently regained their majority, which they held until the council's abolition.
† New ward boundaries
Coat of arms
On 27 November 1976 South Bedfordshire District Council was granted armorial bearings
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its wh ...
by the College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
. The arms combined elements from the devices of the three merged councils, and were blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...
ed as follows:
Or a pile gules over all a single-arched bridge throughout argent masoned sable the keystone charged with an ear of wheat between on the pile three sickles proper all within a bordure engrailed sable; and for a Crest on a wreath of the colours out of a mural crown argent masoned sable in front of a demi-Bull three cog-wheels in fesse Or; and for a Badge or Device: Upon a roundel embattled gules irradiated with rays of the sun a demi-bull rampant couped Or.[
]
The gold and red colouring was derived from the arms of the Bedfordshire County Council. The triangular "pile" and black engrailed border around the shield came from the device of Dunstable Borough Council, itself based on the arms of Dunstable Priory
The Priory Church of Saint Peter, St Peter with its monastery (Dunstable Priory) was founded in 1132 by Henry I of England, Henry I for Augustinians, Augustinian Canons Regular#Canons Regular, Canons in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. St Pete ...
. The bridge across the centre of the shield was from the arms of Leighton Linslade UDC, and the sickles from those of Luton RDC. The crest above the shield was a gold bull, one of the supporter
In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up.
Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. However, unlike the coro ...
s of the county council arms. The motto
A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...
of Leighton-Linslade, ''"By Truth and Dilgence"'' was adopted.[
]
Abolition
In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...
considered reorganising Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England
Structural changes to local government in England were effected on 1 April 2009, whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in parts of the country which previously operated a "two-tier" system of counties and districts. In five s ...
. On 6 March 2008 it was announced that South Bedfordshire would merge with Mid Bedfordshire to form a new 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 ...
called Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created in 2009.
Formation
Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedfor ...
. The new council was formed on 1 April 2009.Unitary solution confirmed for Bedfordshire - New flagship unitary councils approved for Cheshire - Corporate - Communities and Local Government
References
{{Coord, 51, 55, N, 0, 42, W, region:GB_type:adm1st_source:kolossus-zhwiki, display=title
Local government in Bedfordshire
Geography of Bedfordshire
English districts abolished in 2009
Former non-metropolitan districts of Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire District