Sandy, Bedfordshire

Sandy is a small market town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. It lies 8 miles (13 km) to the east of Bedford, 18 miles (29 km) to the south west of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of Central London. The town has a population of around 13,400 based on 2015 estimates.[2]

Sandy
The town sign in Sandy
Sandy Location within Bedfordshire
Population	11,657 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	TL1649
• London	43 miles (69 km) S
Civil parish	Sandy
Unitary authority	Central Bedfordshire
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SANDY
Postcode district	SG19
Dialling code	01767
Police	Bedfordshire
Fire	Bedfordshire and Luton
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	North East Bedfordshire

The A1 road bypasses the town to the west, with the East Coast Main Line running to the east. The area surrounding the town is dominated by a range of low hills known as the Sand Hills with the River Ivel running through the town.

The headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is on the outskirts of the town, having moved to The Lodge in 1961.[3] The Shuttleworth Collection is also nearby, around 2 miles (3 km) south west of Sandy.

History

An archaeological dig in May 2006 revealed that the area may have been settled earlier than 250 BC.[4] However Sandy was a Roman settlement and was probably an important trading centre and staging post in the Roman era. An ancient hill fort, now heavily wooded and traditionally known as Caesar's Camp, although more commonly called "the sand hills" or "the lookout", still overlooks the town.

Sandy is referred to in the Domesday Book, as Sandeia, a derivation from the Old English Sandieg, meaning a sand-island. In 1086 Sandy was listed in the Domesday Book as being held by Eudo Fitzhubert, who is likely to have been the tenant. He was probably also known as Eudo Dapifer, who was a high steward for William the Conqueror, and based in Colchester Castle.[5]

In addition there were also two mills listed, and both of these would have been water-powered. There are still references to one of them in the road name Mill Lane which runs along the River Ivel. However the mill has since been replaced by housing. Further down the river from the site where the mill once stood is Sandye Place Academy where it is believed there was a Danish camp which was built to protect the Danelaw in 886.[5] Evidence at the Riddy, a local nature reserve just south of Sandy, shows that mill-building has taken place on this site since at least the time of the Norman era, though the last mill was built here in 1857.[6]

The town expanded rapidly in the 1970s with the development of London overspill housing between Sunderland Road and St Neots Road. This expansion continued into the 1990s with new housing developments at Fallow Field and Ivel Park.

Government

Sandy is governed by two tiers of local government: the town council, and the Unitary Authority of Central Bedfordshire. It is within the Parliamentary constituency of North East Bedfordshire.

Geography

Sandy is 43 miles (69 km) north of Central London with the county town of Bedford 8 miles (13 km) to the west. St Neots, Cambridgeshire lies 7 miles (11 km) to the north with Biggleswade 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south.

The River Ivel, a tributary of the River Great Ouse, runs through the town. Parts of the town and adjoining land are designated as a Flood Warning Area. The Greensand Ridge, an escarpment which runs through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, runs to the south of the town.

The Sandy Heath transmitting station, a 244 metre tall television broadcast mast, is located to the east of the town.

Transport

Roads layout in Sandy (partial)

Road

Sandy is situated on the A1 which hugs the western edge of the town. The A603 leads west towards Bedford; the B1042 leads east towards Potton and Cambridge.

The A1 bypass was one of the earlier 1950s improvements on the Great North Road. The bypass required a new bridge over the River Ivel, built by Dorman Long.[7] The roundabout (former traffic lights before the late 1970s) is with the A603 for Bedford, to the west and the B1042 into Sandy itself and on to Potton and Cambridge. The former A603, to the east is now the B1042. The former north–south route through the town was over Girtford Bridge, to the west of the current route, and now the A603. There were three separate bypass schemes – the Improvement from Sandy to the junction with A428 (Tempsford and Tempsford Bridge Diversions, began December 1957, finished around 1960), Provision of second carriageway (widening) through Girtford (began 2 January 1961, finished around October 1962), and Biggleswade by-pass to Girtford (Girtford Diversion, which opened on 6 August 1961[8] which included pulverised fuel ash as an embankment infill material). The Girtford Underpass was built in the early 1990s by Kimbell Construction, at the former Varsity Line railway bridge.[9]

Rail

Railways in Sandy
to Peterborough and Edinburgh Tempsford Everton Footbridge Girtford Halt Bridleway Brickhill Road Public Footbridge Town Centre Potton Sandy to Stevenage and London

Sandy railway station is located on the East Coast Main Line and provides half-hourly trains south to central London and beyond to Horsham, and north to Peterborough. Journey times to London are typically around 40 minutes. The station is managed and served by Thameslink and Great Northern.

National Rail signpost at Sandy Railway Station.

Past and future rail links

The Varsity Line, which connected Oxford to Cambridge, ran through Sandy until 1967, stopping at Girtford Halt at the north end of the bypass. From Bedford to Sandy, the line has been paved over and is now part of the NCR 51 cycle route.

In January 2020, East West Rail Ltd, which exists to re-establish the Oxford–Cambridge rail link, announced a new route between Bedford and Cambridge that will bypass Sandy, with a new station 'in the Tempsford area'.

Bus

The no.73 Stagecoach in Bedford bus service, runs half-hourly Monday - Saturday between Biggleswade, Sandy and Bedford. No Sunday service.[10]

Sport and leisure

Sandy has an amateur football team, Sandy F.C., who compete in Division One of the Bedfordshire County Football League.

An athletics track, located at Sandy Secondary School, is home to Biggleswade Athletic Club.

Education

Schools in Sandy were previously 3 tier (lower, middle and upper) as per the rest of the schools in Central Bedfordshire. However, from 2018 schools in the town have converted to being 2 tier (primary and secondary). Due to these changes Sandye Place Academy (the middle school in Sandy) closed in September 2019.

Primary schools

• Laburnum Primary school[11]
• Maple Tree Primary School[12]
• Robert Peel Primary School[13]
• St Swithun's CE Primary School[14]

Secondary schools

• Sandy Secondary School

Twinned towns

Sandy has been twinned with the town of Malaunay in France since 1982,[15] as a result of which the Sandy Twinning Association was also established.[16] The association has also recently developed links with the town of Skarszewy in Poland.[17]

Commemoration

Frederick Thomas Bidlake is commemorated by a garden and monument, at Girtford Bridge. It was unveiled on 23 September 1934 as more than 4,000 watched W. P. Cook, president of the Anfield Bicycle Club and the Road Records Association, perform the unveiling ceremony. The rector of Sandy blessed the memorial. The garden is triangular with a wall of local stone on one side. In its centre, a stone reads: "This garden is dedicated to Frederick Thomas Bidlake, a great cyclist, a man of singular charm and character, an untiring worker for cyclists 1867–1933". A sundial in the centre of the garden is marked "He measured time". A facsimile milestone is engraved "F. T. B. Few have known this road as he. London 48 – York 148".[18]

Girtford Bridge itself was built in 1780–82 to the designs of the Rutland architect John Wing (1728–1794) assisted by his son John Wing (1756–1826)[19]

There is a statue of William Peel VC in the south transept of St Swithun's Church.[20] Opposite the church across the High Street stands the Sir William Peel pub.

Council Representation

2019 Central Bedfordshire Council Elections [21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Nigel Aldis	996	11.75	-3.66
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Backhouse	478	5.64
	Independent	Simon Andrew Ford	2,152	25.39
	Liberal Democrats	Ben Gutteridge	271	3.20
	Green	Kenneth David Lynch	711	8.39	-2.41
	Conservative	Caroline Maudlin	1,150	13.57	+2.86
	Labour	Alexandra Carole Elizabeth Morris	317	3.74
	Labour	Richard Peters	280	3.30
	Conservative	Peter Lindsay Smith	860	10.15	+3.32
	Conservative	Tracey Deborah Stock	1,048	12.37	+1.33
	Labour	Orhan Tuncay	212	2.50
Majority			52	0.61	-4.77
Turnout			8,475	28.63	-35.37

A total of 13 ballots were rejected.

2015 Central Bedfordshire Council Elections [22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Caroline Mauldin*	2,798	16.43	-0.41
	Conservative	Tracey Deborah Stock	2,332	13.69	-2.62
	Conservative	Peter Lindsay Smith	2,294	13.47	+1.40
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Aldis	1,378	8.09	-4.73
	UKIP	Christopher Butterfield	1,286	7.55
	UKIP	George Konstantinidis	1,087	6.38	+0.17
	UKIP	Peter Edwin Day	1,081	6.35
	Labour	Cheryl Ann McDonald	1,055	6.20	-0.20
	Independent	Ken Lynch	1,018	5.98
	Labour	Tom Noakes	849	4.99	-1.48
	Liberal Democrats	Jafor Ali	723	4.25	-4.50
	Independent	Stephen Robert Laurie Allen	572	3.36	-3.10
	Liberal Democrats	Gee Leach	555	3.26	-4.41
Majority			916	5.38
Turnout			17,028	64.00	+26.50
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

A total of 37 ballots were rejected.

Town Council

The council is made up of 15 Councillors representing 4 wards: Beeston Ward  (1 member), Fallowfield Ward (3 members), Ivel Ward (5 members) and Pinnacle Ward (6 members).[23]

2019 Sandy Town Council Elections
Election	Political Result	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Beeston Ward[24]	hold	Michael Peter Scott	unopposed
Fallowfield Ward[25]	hold	Paul John Sharman	unopposed
	hold	Nicholas John Thompson	unopposed
Ivel Ward[26]		Peter Anthony Blaine
		Anthony Max Hill
		Anthony William Jackson
		Martin John Pettitt
		Marion Beverley Runchman
		Susan Jane Sutton
Pinnacle Ward[27]	hold	Nigel Aldis	unopposed
	hold	Amanda Mary Gibson	unopposed
	hold	Terry Knagg	unopposed
	hold	Colin Osborne	unopposed

References

1. "Sandy (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
2. "Statistics and census information". Central Bedfordshire. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
3. "Get in touch". RSPB. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
4. Dig unearths clues to town origins. Comet 24. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 22 February 2009
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Sandy town website, History page.
6. "The Riddy". Sandy Town Council. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
7. The Times 1 January 1957, page 15
8. National Archives
9. Girtford Underpass
10. "73 Bus Route & Timetable: Biggleswade - Bedford". Stagecoach. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
11. https://www.laburnumprimary.co.uk/ Laburnum Primary School
12. https://www.mapletreelowerschool.com/ Maple Tree Primary School
13. http://www.robertpeellower.co.uk/Robert Peel Primary School
14. http://www.stswithunssandy.co.uk/ St Swithun's CE Primary School
15. "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
16. . Sandy Twinning Association.
17. . Sandy Twinning Association.
18. http://www.bidlakememorial.org.uk
19. John Brushe, 'Girtford Bridge and John Wing 2', Bedfordshire Magazine Vol. 15 (1975), p. 59 ff. See Bedfordshire County Council, Girtford Bridge.
20. A Brief History of St Swithun's Church
21. Council, Central Bedfordshire. "Sandy election results - 2019". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
22. Central Bedfordshire Council. "Sandy election results - 2015". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
23. "Sandy Town Council - Wards". www.sandytowncouncil.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
24. Council, Central Bedfordshire. "Sandy (Part) Beeston Town Council". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
25. Council, Central Bedfordshire. "Sandy (Part) Fallowfield Town Council". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
26. Council, Central Bedfordshire. "Sandy (Part) Ivel Town Council". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
27. Council, Central Bedfordshire. "Sandy (Part) Pinnacle Town Council". www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2019.

External links

• Sandy Community Website
• Sandy Town Council
• Sandy Twinning Association