Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils on 1 April 2009. With a budget of £500m the unitary council provides over a hundred services to a quarter of a million people, and is responsible for schools, social services, rubbish collection, roads, planning, leisure centres, libraries, care homes and more.

The county of Bedfordshire was abolished on 1st April 2009. The term of office of councillors of Bedfordshire County Council and of Mid and South Bedfordshire District Councils ended on 1st April 2009. A new county and a new district, both from that date to be known as Central Bedfordshire, were created for the same area as the existing districts of Mid and South Bedfordshire. A new district council, the Central Bedfordshire Council, was created for the new district and became the sole principal authority for the district. There was to be no county council for the new county.

In 2006 the Department for Communities and Local Government considered reorganising Bedfordshire's administrative structure as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The four proposals considered were:

On 6 March 2008 the DCLG, under Labour Party Secretary of State, Hazel Blears, decided to implement Proposal 2. This meant that from 1 April 2009 there would be three unitary authorities in Bedfordshire: Bedford, Luton and Central Bedfordshire. Bedfordshire County Council challenged this decision in the High Court but on 4 April 2008 it was announced the Judicial Review had failed and the County Council would not appeal. Subsequently, a shadow council for Central Bedfordshire was formed from all the members of Mid and South Bedfordshire councils, as well as all Bedfordshire County Council members from the Central Bedfordshire area. The inaugural meeting of the shadow council was held on 10 April 2008. A shadow Executive for the council was formed consisting of four members of each council, led by the former leader of Mid Bedfordshire District Council.

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