Wixams is a new build town which straddles two local authorities, two electoral wards and four civil parishes. This makes it much more confusing for residents to understand which council is theirs and who their local representatives are. We have put together a series of maps which should help you understand where the boundaries are and which ward or parish you live in.
There are 4 levels of democracy listed on this page:
- Parliamentary constituency – Mid Beds for all of Wixams
- Local authorities – Bedford Borough or Central Beds
- Electoral wards – Wixams is split between 2 wards
- Civil parishes – Wixams is split between 4 civil parishes
If you have an issue you want to report please use the Report a Problem page to find contact details for your councils or representatives.
Parliamentary Constituency
The UK Parliament is currently split into 650 constituencies, each with an average electorate (people able to vote) in England of around 72,000. Every constituency is represented by a single Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. MPs have three main responsibilities: primarily to act in the national interest, secondly they must act in the interests of their constituents, and thirdly they may act in the interests of their political party if this does not conflict with their other two responsibilities.
For us in Wixams things are very simple at the parliamentary level, as the entire Wixams estate is contained within the Mid Bedfordshire constituency. To the immediate north is the Bedford and Kempston constituency and further north
and to the east of Wixams is the North East Bedfordshire constituency.
Local Authorities
There are two local authorities for Wixams: Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council.
In 2009 Bedfordshire moved to a single-tier structure and both councils became ‘Unitary Authorities’, meaning they took on extra responsibilities from the former Bedfordshire County Council such as education, social services and transport.
Unitary authorities are responsible for: education, highways, transport planning, passenger transport, social care, housing, libraries, leisure & recreation, environmental health, waste collection, waste disposal, planning applications, strategic planning & local taxation collection.
We have included the main email address and phone number for the customer services of each council below. If you have a specific issues please visit the appropriate website to find out more. For things like reporting broken play equipment or highways issues the councils typically have dedicated reporting tool for those types of issues.
You can find out which local authority your home is in from your council tax bill.
Electoral Wards
Both Bedford Borough and Central Beds are split down into electoral divisions called ‘Wards’. Each ward is represented by an elected councillor who sits on the council and can also be a member of various council committees and sub-committees.
Wards are typically sized so that each contains a similar number of residents meaning they can be geographically very different in size in rural and urban areas. However, sometimes a larger ward is created which can have two or more ward councillors. Each ward has an average electorate of about 5,500 people.
Wixams has two wards, one in Bedford Borough and one in Central Beds. If you live in Bedford Borough you are in the Wixams & Wilstead ward. If you live in Central Beds you are in the Houghton Conquest & Haynes ward.
Civil Parishes
The lowest tier of local government is known as a ‘Civil Parish’. The size of a parish can vary depending on its location which can range from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in the tens of thousands. Not all areas are split into parishes, some urban districts are wholly or partly unparished.
Parish councillors are not necessarily elected but can be ‘co-opted’ by other members of the council and it is led by the chairman who is elected by the council. Parish council meetings are open to the public and are normally held monthly.
The roles of parish councils can vary significantly but can include: the provision and maintenance of facilities such as allotments, bins, public seats, public toilets and recreation facilities. They can also spend money on crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming measures, giving grants to local voluntary organisations and sponsoring public events. Parish councils also act as a channel of local opinion to larger government bodies on issues such as planning.
Wixams is spread across four civil parishes, three in Bedford Borough and one in Central Beds, each administered by its own parish council.
Ordnance Survey Election Maps
The OS have an excellent site for viewing all democratic maps for the entire country: