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Strong and happy communities – Central Bedfordshire 2050

Strong and happy communities

We want to live in communities that are friendly, cooperative and inclusive. Central Bedfordshire will be a place where people look after their well-being and look out for others.

Opportunities

Central Bedfordshire’s market towns and villages lend themselves to close-knit communities where neighbours know one another. This existing cohesion can make community engagement easier to organise.

The development of new housing within Central Bedfordshire provides opportunities to design community spaces into new neighbourhoods that encourage integration and embed stewardship and long-term management from the outset.

Social capital could be built through exploring more opportunities for informal volunteering, partnerships with schools, and spaces for like-minded communities to come together. Schools, libraries and music centres continue to be important flexible community hubs across Central Bedfordshire.

Challenges

Population densities are particularly low in parts of Central Bedfordshire. Residents outside of larger settlements may be more isolated and rely more on private car ownership to engage in community activities.

Spaces for community use need to be carefully considered, ensuring they are flexible to different users’ needs and shared between groups — reducing the number of times community buildings stand vacant.

The growth in digital and online platforms has the potential to result in increased social isolation and less physical interaction.

Trends

Resident satisfaction

Central Bedfordshire has a higher rate of resident satisfaction than the national average, with 87% of residents reporting being at least fairly satisfied with their local area in 2018.

Civic engagement

The number of people in the UK engaging in unpaid volunteering is increasing — from 17% of the population in 2010 to 2011, to 19% between 2014 and 2015.

Family and friends

85.6% of people in the region reported that they have someone they could go to if they had a problem — higher than the national average, suggesting the important influence of friends and family.