Bideford - Governance

Governance

Bideford Town Council has 16 seats representing four unequal wards, North, South, East and South Outer. At the May 2011 local elections, seven Conservatives, three independents, two Liberal Democrats, two Labour and one Green were elected (there was one vacant seat). There is a mayor and Town Clerk. The town council received widespread attention in February 2012 when the High Court ruled that prayers as part of meetings were not lawful by the Local Government Act 1972.

Torridge District Council is the next level of local government and most decisions are made by Devon County Council. The local MP is the Conservative Geoffrey Cox and the MEP local aristocrat Tory Giles Chichester.