It’s less than a year until the government makes final decisions on the reorganisation of local councils across England. But the people of West Bridgford may not just have one new layer of governance to deal with by the time changes come around. The Nottinghamshire town is the subject of strong calls for a new town council amid suggestions that it is “in debt” to the rest of Rushcliffe – but not everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Many – if not most – small villages and towns in the UK have a parish or town council. It is the lowest rung of local government and deals with local assets such as community centres, bins and parks. West Bridgford doesn’t have one. Before 1974, the town was part of a larger West Bridgford Urban District Council. But in that year, the council was scrapped, during the last major shake-up of local government. West Bridgford became part of Rushcliffe Borough Council and that was that. These days, every other settlement in Rushcliffe has its own council – apart from West Bridgford. In those towns and parishes, the residents pay a small “precept” of council tax to their town or parish council. In West Bridgford, people instead pay a “special expense” as part of their Rushcliffe council tax. But budget papers show that Rushcliffe council is spending more on West Bridgford than it receives in special expenses. Currently, there is a deficit of £184,000 – meaning Rushcliffe has spent £184,000 more on the town than it has received from the expenses. “West Bridgford has been essentially given a loan from Rushcliffe to meet the cost of running its facilities,” said Leake councillor Carys Thomas at the last full Rushcliffe Borough Council meeting in March, when the authority’s budget for the next financial year was discussed. “It’s not been able to pay its bills and Rushcliffe has lent it the money. I’m not saying we shouldn’t support West Bridgford. I’m saying it should have sorted itself out by the time the council is expanded (in Local Government Reorganisation). “We fully support those in West Bridgford who feel it’s time for them to have a town council. West Bridgford has its own identity and sense of community and should have the ability to make its own decisions about its future.” Her colleague Lesley Way agreed. “It’s a commonly held belief in our communities that everything goes to West Bridgford. It’s only reasonable for them to balance their books in the way that other town and parish councils have to. “They’re paying less (in special expenses) than other town and parish councils, while having their community events and infrastructure supported by the rest of Rushcliffe.” It’s not just the outsiders who want a town council. Those who live in West Bridgford themselves are largely in favour, too, according to a recent survey run by the West Bridgford Local Area Forum (WBLAF) – a group made up of local councillors, businesses and residents with an interest in the town. Of 432 respondents, 87% were in favour of West Bridgford having its own council. “The idea of a council has been floating around for over 50 years,” says Labour councillor Steve Calvert, for the Abbey ward, which covers the area just south of the town centre, east of the A606 Melton Road, and west of Gamston. “Since then, people within West Bridgford, especially those involved with local government, have thought about that and felt that West Bridgford was a bit under-represented. “The way I see it is that there’s a democratic deficit for West Bridgford residents. They do not have the opportunity to have their own council making decisions on very, very local West Bridgford matters.” Not everyone agrees that a new town council would be a good thing, though. Conservative councillor Jonathan Wheeler, who is Rushcliffe’s portfolio holder for transformation, leisure and wellbeing and is also Nottinghamshire County Councillor for West Bridgford South, says the recent poll run by the WBLAF was “not a proper poll” and may not be truly representative of local views. “(The poll) didn’t ask for any evidence of where you lived,” he said. “You could’ve filled it in if you lived in Guatemala. Those 400 people could have been from anywhere in the world. “It’s all political because at the end of the day there are certain parties who know they’ll never run Rushcliffe Borough Council or probably the County Council again. Their only shot at power is to run a town council. That’s why they want it. It’s politics.” Proposals in the past had eventually “run out of steam” due to opposition from the Conservative-run cabinet, says councillor Calvert. This includes in 2025 when the Labour group of councillors in Rushcliffe formally proposed that a town council for West Bridgford be looked into, as part of discussions about the 2025/2026 budget. Finance staff, commenting at the time, noted that West Bridgford residents would likely see a 72% increase in the council tax they paid to finance the changes. Councillor Wheeler said: “People in West Bridgford aren’t going to vote for a town council if they know the true cost. Those costs weren’t put in the survey. Once they know, I just can’t see people voting for it.” He said that Rushcliffe’s investment in West Bridgford, including recent refurbishment of Bridgford Park, West Park and The Hook at Lady Bay, as well as the building of the new Sharphill Community Hall, is something a town council could not achieve. “If you look at what facilities are in Bingham , Radcliffe-on-Trent and Cotgrave, they’re not a patch on West Bridgford,” he said. “When the borough council runs facilities it can do it at a better rate because we can spread the cost. He also pointed out that there are other towns in Nottinghamshire such as Beeston and Retford which don’t have their own councils, meaning West Bridgford is not an outlier in that respect. “No one’s shown me any evidence to say that having a town council would improve facilities or quality of life for West Bridgford residents. I’d gladly look at it if that was the case. I have a small council on my patch: Gamston and Holme Pierrepont. They do a good job and I support them for what they do. “Little councils are the way to do it really because they don’t get too bureaucratic, too big, all the extra costs, extra stuff. You can run them very efficiently. But (not) huge town councils.” Other opposers to the idea have suggested it will be financially costly to run the governance review and to invest in new assets for the new council, such as a place to meet, that it may cause additional bureaucracy, and have questioned the ability of a town council to make “meaningful change”. Calls for a new council have picked up traction again ahead of the latest round of local government reorganisation. If West Bridgford doesn’t get its own town council, it will be governed by a much larger council than Rushcliffe when the latter is subsumed into a bigger one by 2028. With the positive results of the survey, the WBLAF will now decide whether to move on to the next step of the process of asking for a new council – a petition. Around 2,500 of West Bridgford’s 31,000-or-so eligible voters – 7.5 per cent – will need to sign to say they want the change, in order for Rushcliffe Borough Council to be obliged to complete a “community governance review”. This process, which could take more than a year, will then decide if a new council is feasible.