The town of Bedford was an
ancient borough, with its first known
charter dating from 1166. The ancient borough covered the five parishes of St Cuthbert, St John, St Mary,
St Paul and
St Peter. , St Paul's Square: Council's headquarters 1892–2009 Bedford was reformed to become a
municipal borough in 1836 under the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. It was then governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Bedford', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council. The borough boundaries were significantly enlarged in 1934 to take in areas from several neighbouring parishes, notably including most of
Goldington parish, including the village. The boundaries were expanded again in 1968. The modern district and its council were created in 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972, with the first election held
in 1973. For its first year it operated as a shadow authority alongside the area's outgoing authorities, being the old Bedford Borough Council,
Kempston Urban District Council and
Bedford Rural District Council. The new district and its council formally came into being on 1 April 1974. The new district was initially called Bedford, and it was not given
borough status to begin with. To preserve Bedford's ancient mayoralty, the councillors representing wards in the town itself acted as
charter trustees. On 16 October 1975 the district was both renamed North Bedfordshire and granted borough status, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, at which point the charter trustees were abolished. The council changed the district's name back to Bedford with effect from 1 October 1992, becoming Bedford Borough Council. Following a referendum in 2002, the council chose to have a
directly elected mayor as its political leader. Bedford remains part of the
ceremonial county of Bedfordshire for the purposes of
lieutenancy. ==Governance==