Rushcliffe

This article is about the district. For the constituency, see Rushcliffe (UK Parliament constituency). For the wapentake, see Rushcliffe Wapentake.

Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in south Nottinghamshire, England. Its council is based in West Bridgford. The borough also includes the towns of Bingham and Cotgrave as well as numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Some of the built-up areas in the north-west of the borough, including West Bridgford, form part of the Nottingham Urban Area.

Borough of Rushcliffe
Non-metropolitan district and borough
West Bridgford, the largest settlement in the borough and the administrative centre
Shown within Nottinghamshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East Midlands
Administrative county	Nottinghamshire
Admin. HQ	West Bridgford
Government
• Type	Rushcliffe Borough Council
• MPs:	James Naish Robert Jenrick
Area
• Total	158 sq mi (409 km2)
• Rank	84th
Population  (2022)
• Total	121,582
• Rank	Ranked 195th
• Density	770/sq mi (300/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 89.7% White 5.7% Asian 2.8% Mixed 0.9% Black 0.9% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 47.1% no religion 46.7% Christianity 3.8% other 2.4% Islam
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code	37UJ (ONS) E07000176 (GSS)
Ethnicity	94.1% White 2.7% S.Asian 1.0% Black 1.3% Mixed 0.9% Chinese or Other[2]

The neighbouring districts are Broxtowe, Nottingham, Gedling, Newark and Sherwood, Melton, Charnwood, North West Leicestershire and Erewash.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the whole area of two former districts and part of a third, which were all abolished at the same time:^[3]

• Basford Rural District (part)
• Bingham Rural District
• West Bridgford Urban District

The new district was named after the ancient Rushcliffe Wapentake, which had covered part of the area.^[4] Rushcliffe means "cliff where brushwood grows", from Old English hris "brushwood" and clif "cliff". The new Rushcliffe district was granted borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.^[5]

Governance

Rushcliffe Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Andy Brown, Conservative since 23 May 2024[6]
Leader	Neil Clarke, Conservative since 25 May 2023
Chief Executive	Adam Hill since 3 February 2025
Structure
Seats	44 councillors
Political groups	Administration (25)   Conservative (25) Other parties (19)   Labour (9)   Independent (5)   Green (2)   Rushcliffe Ind. (2)   Liberal Democrat (1)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	2027
Meeting place
Rushcliffe Arena, Rugby Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7YG
Website
www.rushcliffe.gov.uk

Map of Rushliffe district

Bingham, the second-largest settlement in the borough

Cotgrave, the third-largest settlement in the borough

Rushcliffe Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Nottinghamshire County Council. Most of the borough is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[7]

Political control

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 1999.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[8][9]

Party in control		Years
	Conservative	1974–1995
	No overall control	1995–1999
	Conservative	1999–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Rushcliffe. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2005 have been:^[10]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Neil Clarke[11]		Conservative	May 2005	25 May 2017
Simon Robinson		Conservative	25 May 2017	7 May 2023
Neil Clarke		Conservative	25 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:^[12]

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	25
	Labour	9
	Independent	5
	Green	2
	Rushcliffe Independents	2
	Liberal Democrats	1
Total		44

Of the five independent councillors, three sit together as the "Leake Independents" group and two sit together as the "Bingham Independents" group.^[13] The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

Rushcliffe Civic Centre, West Bridgford: Council's offices 1982–2016.

The council is based at the Ruscliffe Arena on Rugby Road in West Bridgford. The building is a combined leisure centre and council headquarters. The council moved into the new building in December 2016 and the leisure centre opened the following month.^[14] From 1982 to 2016 the council was based at Rushcliffe Civic Centre on Pavilion Road in West Bridgford, overlooking Trent Bridge. That building had been built in 1966 as a hotel called the Bridgford Hotel.^[15][16]

Elections

See also: Rushcliffe Borough Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2023 the council has comprised 44 councillors representing 24 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.^[17]

Wards

The wards are:^[17]

• Abbey
• Bingham North
• Bingham South
• Bunny
• Compton Acres
• Cotgrave
• Cranmer
• Cropwell
• East Bridgford
• Edwalton
• Gamston
• Gotham
• Keyworth and Wolds
• Lady Bay
• Leake
• Lutterell
• Musters
• Nevile and Langar
• Radcliffe on Trent
• Ruddington
• Soar Valley
• Tollerton
• Trent Bridge

Wider politics

The borough straddles two parliamentary constituencies. Most of the borough is in the Rushcliffe constituency. The north-eastern part of the borough around Bingham and surrounding villages is in the Newark constituency.^[18]

Geography

South-east of Nottingham, the Rushcliffe boundary splits from the City of Nottingham boundary near the Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre and then follows the River Trent to near RAF Syerston, which is the most northern part of the district, although Syerston the village itself is in the Newark and Sherwood district. It meets the River Devon near Cotham, then follows this river to the east southwards to where it meets the Leicestershire boundary. To the south, the Leicestershire/Rushcliffe boundary crosses the runways of the former RAF Langar with most of the airfield in Rushcliffe.

Rushcliffe is split between an urbanised north-west, containing suburbs of Greater Nottingham that have not been incorporated into the city, and the south and east which is predominantly rural, which stretches to the Leicestershire border. Many of these villages lie in the Vale of Belvoir. The Grantham Canal threads from nearby Grantham through Rushcliffe to the River Trent. Villages in the Vale of Belvoir include Redmile, Hickling, Harby, Stathern and Langar. Geographically, the River Soar marks the divide between the two counties.

Towns and parishes

See also: List of civil parishes in Nottinghamshire

The former West Bridgford Urban District is an unparished area.^[18] The rest of the borough is divided into civil parishes. The parish councils for Bingham and Cotgrave take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council.^[19]

Media

In terms of television, Rushcliffe is served by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central with television signals received from the Waltham transmitter ^[20] and the Nottingham relay transmitter.^[21]

Radio stations for the area are:

• BBC Radio Nottingham
• Capital Midlands
• Smooth East Midlands
• Greatest Hits Radio Midlands

Education

Rushcliffe Spencer Academy and West Bridgford school have ranked regularly in the top 100 comprehensive schools in the UK for GCSE results. In 2014 West Bridgford was ranked at 63rd of all comprehensives in the UK with 83% achieving '5+ A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) including English and maths GCSEs' and Rushcliffe 81st in the UK with 82% achieving 5 A*-C in 2014.^[22]

The Becket School (partly geographically outside the Rushcliffe district), West Bridgford School and Rushcliffe Spencer Academy get A level results for 'Average point score per A level student (full-time equivalent)' in the top 10% of all schools in the UK, comprehensive or selective, better than many English grammar schools.^[23] These scores are in the top 2% for all UK comprehensives.

Sutton Bonington is in the south of the district, which has the Sutton Bonington Campus of the University of Nottingham.

Notable residents

• Conservative politician Kenneth Clarke (the MP for the area from 1970 to 2019 and who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997) lives in West Bridgford
• Actress Sherrie Hewson (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Crossroads and Loose Women)
• Famous rose grower Harry Wheatcroft lived with his family in West Bridgford
• The majority of Nottingham Forest Football Club players live in Rushcliffe ^{[citation needed]} and have included Stuart Pearce, Andy Cole and Ian Wright. Former Manager Frank Clark lived in Keyworth. A number of ex-Nottingham Forest Players remain in the Rushcliffe area. ^{[citation needed]}
• Former England Test cricketer, off spin bowler and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Graeme Swann

Arms

Coat of arms of Rushcliffe

Crest On a wreath Or and Vert within a mural crown Or charged with three oak leaves a cliff surrounded by rushes Proper. Escutcheon Per chevron Sable and Vert in chief two bears salient respectant and in base a representation of the Bingham Butter Cross Or on a chief Argent a barrulet wavy Azure rising therefrom a bridge of three arches Or. Motto Salus Populi (The Welfare Of The People)[24][25]