South of Bedford, the Marston Vale is changing quickly. Land once dug for brick clay is being reused for housing, warehousing and leisure, including the new settlement at Wixams and the former brickworks around Kempston Hardwick and Stewartby that has been earmarked for a major theme park resort. Projects of this size bring long earthworks programmes and a great many lorry movements.
The A421 southern bypass carries most of that traffic, linking the M1 with the A1, while the A6 and A428 serve the town from north, south and east. Within Bedford, industrial estates in Kempston and along the eastern side have the usual build-up of debris in yards and on estate roads, and new housing continues on the northern and western edges.
Coverage in and around Bedford
Kempston, Elstow, Wixams, Wootton and Stewartby are covered together with Bedford, as are Clapham, Bromham and Great Barford along the river. Operators working the A421 corridor can usually reach most of the borough without difficulty, but the villages in the north of the area involve more travel and benefit from advance booking.