Bedford's population spikes - so much so it's beaten parts of London to come 4th in the country

New research has ranked Bedford the fourth area in the UK to have the biggest rise in population between 2011 and 2021.

With a jump of 17.67%, the town beat the likes of Peterborough, Milton Keynes, the City of London and Kensington and Chelsea.

In 10 years, our town’s population has gone from 157,479 to 185,300.

And we were only beaten by Dartford, Barking and Dagenham with Tower Hamlets taking the top spot.

The population data was analysed by Now Patient which not only looked at population growth but the UK areas with the greatest number of households and the average life expectancy.

You can view the complete findings here