Bedford

The Future

The future is bright, the future is Bedford....

Over the next few years, Bedford will be an exciting place to be. New homes, new roads, improved public transport and a fantastic new town centre will pave the way to Bedford reclaiming its role as the county town and be the destination of choice for residents, visitors and workers!

With Bedford's significant population growth of up to 17,500 new dwellings planned by 2021, it will mean around 48,000 to the existing population, driving up demand for a range of services and increase expenditure in the local economy. Plans for Bedford town centre will continue to harness this potential growth through significant infrastructure investment and well targeted regeneration initiatives.

Bedford has already achieved significant infrastructure investment through the completion of the first phase of the Western Bypass (the second phase is being sought), the recently completed dualling of the A421 to the M1 and the award winning Castle Quay development featuring over 100 apartments, 8 retail units, 3 restaurants, an open air archaeology park and exposure of the ancient Lime Kiln all alongside the newly refurbished Bedford Gallery. Housing delivery is also well underway providing a wide range of attractive housing environments addressing well the affordability issue, with quality local facilities and substantial, accessible and connected green infrastructure.

Bedford’s planned growth offers a range of first class opportunities with millions of pounds of investment committed in the last decade and for future growth. The town centre is a focus for new sources of public funding aimed at facilitating development and infrastructure investment which will see an expansion of its cultural, leisure, retail and transport infrastructure with further development planned specifically at:

Bedford Station Quarter – outline planning permission is being sought for the railway station redevelopment which includes a public transport interchange, new business quarter and investment in the rail infrastructure to increase the capacity of the station and improve the already easy access from London and the rest of the UK.

Bedford Town Centre West – outline planning permission has been granted for a comprehensive redevelopment which allows for a wider ranging level of retail and leisure uses as well as providing new residential units and a new modern bus station which will bring an attractive extension to the shopping area.

The Cultural Quarter will also be further boosted with the proposed redevelopment of the Bedford Museum and world renowned Cecil Higgins Art Gallery which will be complemented by the proposed historic restoration of the High Street to include detrafficking measures.