List of local nature reserves in Bedfordshire

Bromham Lake
Bromham Lake

Bedfordshire is a county in the East of England.[1] It is bounded by Hertfordshire to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, and Buckinghamshire to the west.[2] It has an area of 1,235 square kilometres (477 sq mi), and a population estimated in 2016 at 640,000, with an increase of 11% over the previous ten years.[3] Geographically, it is mainly rural, but still the fourteenth most densely populated county of England, with over half the population living in the two largest built-up areas, Luton and Bedford.[4] The county is governed by three unitary authorities, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton.[5] The county town is Bedford, and the name is first recorded in the treaty in about 879 between King Alfred the Great and Guthrum, which divided English and Danish territory by a line which went through Bedford.[6]

Much of Luton and southern Bedfordshire lies in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[7] North and mid Bedfordshire are undulating claylands with broad river valleys of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries, and the Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge. Jurassic and Cretaceous clays are overlaid by Quaternary glacial deposits of chalky boulder clay.[8]

Local nature reserves (LNRs) are designated by local authorities under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The local authority must have a legal control over the site, by owning or leasing it, or having a legal agreement with the owner. LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically, and local authorities have a duty to care for them. They can apply local bye-laws to manage and protect LNRs.[9][10]

As of March 2016 there are twenty local nature reserves in Bedfordshire:[11] eight in Bedford, eleven in Central Bedfordshire and one in Luton. The largest is Harrold-Odell Country Park with 59.3 hectares (147 acres); it is a former quarry on the bank of the River Great Ouse which has river meadows and two lakes.[12] The smallest is Hill Rise at 0.9 hectares (2.2 acres); it is close to Bedford town centre and surrounded on three sides by houses, but it has a variety of habitats.[13][14] There is public access to all the sites.

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  1. ^ "East of England". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Your Guide to the Counties of England". Counties in England. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Bedfordshire Police". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Bedfordshire Hate Crime Strategy" (PDF). Central Bedfordshire Council et al. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service Annual Report, 2014/15" (PDF). Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  6. ^ Page, William, ed. (1912). A History of the County of Bedford. Vol. 3. London: Victoria County History. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  7. ^ "Luton and southern Bedfordshire Green Infrastructure Plan" (PDF). Greensand Trust. 2009. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  8. ^ "Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands". National Character Area profile. Natural England. pp. 11, 40. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Protected or designated areas". Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Local nature reserves: setting up and management". Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Natural England. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference LNRBeds was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Welcome to Harrold-Odell Country Park". Friends of Harrold-Odell Country Park. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Hill Rise". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  14. ^ "Welcome to Hill Rise Nature Reserve". Hill Rise Nature Reserve. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.