Leighton–Linslade Government Act 1972 the district was merged into South Bedfordshire in 1974, and was downgraded to a parish. Leighton–Linslade is recognised as a Cycling town by Cycling England, from whom it receives funding to promote cycle use. The parish participates in international town twinning: Leighton–Linslade Leighton–Linslade is a civil parish in the district of Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, England, with a population of 37,469 at the 2011 Census. It consists of the settlements of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade, which have a single town council. The River Ouzel provides the border between the parts, with Leighton to the east and Linslade
Leighton Buzzard Light Railway modern housing built since the 1970s, although the last half mile runs through countryside. There are open level crossings for which trains stop. The railway began at Grovebury Sidings, where sand trains unloaded into washers and the sand was shipped to standard-gauge trains on the Dunstable branch or to road. The sidings and industrial plant at Grovesbury were replaced with an industrial estate in the early 1970s. Trains from Grovebury crossed Billington Road by a level crossing and worked up a steep grade to Page's Park. Here a branch line south connected to the line's main engineering workshop and the