Directly elected mayor of Bedford

Mayor of Bedford
Incumbent Dave Hodgson since 16 October 2009
Style	Mr. Mayor
Appointer	Electorate of Bedford
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Frank Branston
Website	Mayor of Bedford

The Mayor of Bedford is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire. The incumbent is Dave Hodgson of the Liberal Democrats.

The first known reference to a Mayor of Bedford in England was in 1264.

Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the Mayor of Bedford came into office on 29 September. The first Mayor of the reformed Corporation came into office on 1 January 1836, and subsequent Mayors on 9 November. After the Local Government Act, 1948, and the Local Government Act, 1972, the Mayors from 1949 onwards came into office in May. The civic Mayor was replaced by a directly elected Mayor in 2002.

Since April 2009 the Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority, with the executive having the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan district and a non-metropolitan county.

Bedford held a referendum on 21 February 2002 on whether to introduce a directly elected mayor after a petition was signed by at least 5% of the electorate. The move was approved with 11,316 voting in favour and 5,357 against on a turnout of 15.5%.

The first mayoral election on 17 October 2002 saw independent Frank Branston elected as mayor.

In 2007 Frank Branston was re-elected as mayor.

A by-election took place on 15 October 2009 after the death of the previous incumbent, Frank Branston in August 2009. The by-election was won by the Liberal Democrat, Dave Hodgson.

Dave Hodgson was elected to a full term as Mayor on 5 May 2011 after being elected to finish the term of Frank Branston in 2009.

The most recent mayoral election took place on 7 May 2015, the same day as elections of Bedford Borough Councillors, and the UK General Election. Hodgson was re-elected.