So you are thinking of moving to Bedford in Bedfordshire? You've found some estate agents and they have told you what you wanted to hear. You've read some speil by a local councillor who says that Bedford is on the up an up? Now it's time for a bit of reality. Cold hard statistics culled from the Police, the Indices of Deprivation and the latest census. Is Bedford the land of milk and honey or are Kempston, Sandy and Wixams a lot better? Time to find out.
Crime in Bedford
Using the latest Police street crime figures for the month of February 2021 we have compiled a table of the most voilent Policing areas in and around Bedford. Naturally the more urban and more central areas will have a higher rate of crime, but often you can be surprised when that is not the case and that is the area you want to move to.
| Polcing Area | Voilent Crimes |
|---|---|
| Castle | 193 |
| Bedford | 167 |
| South End | 84 |
| Kempston | 72 |
| Fenlake | 70 |
| Salph End | 62 |
| Brickhill | 43 |
| Harrowden | 37 |
| Biddenham | 22 |
| Clapham Green | 8 |
The English Indices of Deprivation also has crime statistics for Bedford. These statitics are published by the government every 2-3 years. They are a measure of how likely you are to be a victim of personal or material crime in an area, such as muggings or burglary. We've collated an average rank for all the Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) in each ward in and around Bedford. The table below shows ten wards in this area, from the best to the worst.
| Ward | Average rank in England |
|---|---|
| Harpur (Best) | 10825/32845 |
| Queens Park | 12008/32845 |
| Kempston North | 13568/32845 |
| Newnham | 15530/32845 |
| Kempston Central and East | 15656/32845 |
| De Parys | 17629/32845 |
| Brickhill | 21944/32845 |
| Bromham and Biddenham | 26778/32845 |
| Castle | 8840/32845 |
| Cauldwell (Worst) | 9934/32845 |
Bedford and Kempston "Your Papers Please!!"
Your Health in Bedford
If you are thinking of moving to Bedford, you want to know if the place is likely to put you on a downward spiral of ill health. We've taken the healh question from the latest census to find out and how Bedford compares to its neighbouring local authorities. People were asked to rate their current health from very bad to very good;
| Local Authority | Very Bad | Bad | Fair | Good | Very Good |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton Keynes | 0.94% | 3.2% | 10.82% | 34.88% | 50.17% |
| Bedford (Bedford) | 0.98% | 3.55% | 12.58% | 35.98% | 46.9% |
| Huntingdonshire | 0.85% | 3.09% | 11.61% | 35.67% | 48.77% |
| South Northamptonshire | 0.77% | 2.64% | 11.01% | 34.87% | 50.72% |
The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Bedford. They measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health, lovely! We've collated an average rank for all the Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) in each ward in and around Bedford. The table below shows ten wards in this area, from the best to the worst;
| Ward | Average rank in England |
|---|---|
| Cauldwell (Best) | 11231/32845 |
| Queens Park | 13132/32845 |
| Kempston Central and East | 13719/32845 |
| Kempston North | 14073/32845 |
| Castle | 14780/32845 |
| Brickhill | 18055/32845 |
| De Parys | 18083/32845 |
| Newnham | 20047/32845 |
| Bromham and Biddenham | 25874/32845 |
| Harpur (Worst) | 8397/32845 |
Bedford, the place is riddled with strange and backwards people
Deprivation in Bedford
Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average Index of Multiple Deprivation rank of all the LSOAs in the wards in and around Bedford. In layman's terms, this is how rough the ward is based on mutiple measures of deprivation including; employment, income, health, crime, housing and outside space.
| Ward | Average rank in England |
|---|---|
| Kempston North (Best) | 12967/32845 |
| Kempston Central and East | 13121/32845 |
| Castle | 13294/32845 |
| Newnham | 20718/32845 |
| De Parys | 20916/32845 |
| Brickhill | 21487/32845 |
| Bromham and Biddenham | 28733/32845 |
| Cauldwell | 8462/32845 |
| Queens Park | 9106/32845 |
| Harpur (Worst) | 9936/32845 |
Bedford – get ready for the nice smell of strong urine
Bedford and Kempston “Your Papers Please!!”
Bedford, It’s never ending, It’s hell
Bedford and Kempston: Welcome to the Dawn of the Dumb-***
Bedford – billed to be the Garden of Eden, but ended up like Stalinist Russia!
Bedford: Things started to slide back in the 80s
Bedford, the place is riddled with strange and backwards people
Luton – England’s Toilet
Sandy, Bedfordshire – **** Island