Your council

Torridge: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Torridge District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, South West; within the county of DEV. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Devon County Council. ONS code E07000046.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Torridge for 2026–27: £201.01 of a £2,601.42 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 2 opened (1 new provision, 1 fresh start), 1 closed (1 fresh start)

The Clinton Church of England Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: fresh start, 30 September 2026
Holme Court School Devon — open; reason recorded: new provision, 8 September 2026
The Clinton Church of England Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: fresh start, 1 October 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Torridge reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Torridge: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	−£946,000
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£1.4 million
Cultural and related services	£1.1 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£6.9 million
Planning and development services	£2.3 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£3.3 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£14.1 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Life in Torridge: the official facts

Facts about the people who live here: their pay, homes, health and more, from official statistics. They describe the place, not you, and every council gets the same list. Each shows when it was measured.

Show the figures for:

Showing: Torridge.

People living here: 70,378 people 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsAn official estimate of everyone who lives in the area, in the middle of the year.
Typical age: 53 years 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsHalf the people who live here are younger than this and half are older.
Money to live on, per person, per year: £23,212 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage household income per person after taxes, with benefits added: what people have to spend or save.
Typical weekly pay, before tax: £573 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsFor employees who live here: half earn more than this each week, half earn less.
Children growing up in poverty: 29.7% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsThe share of children under 16 in families on low incomes once housing costs are paid.
People claiming unemployment-related benefits: 2.8% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsThe share of people aged 16 to 64 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work.
Average price of a home: £267,174 August 2026 · HM Land RegistryThe average price of a home here in the month shown.
How many years of pay a home costs: 8.1 times yearly pay 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsA typical home's price divided by the typical yearly pay of people who live here.
Greenhouse gases, per person: 8.6 tonnes per person 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEmissions from the area in a year, shared out per resident, in tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
Homes and businesses that can get the fastest broadband: 60.0% 1 January 2026 · OfcomThe share of addresses that can get gigabit broadband (1,000 Mbps).
Public chargers for electric cars: 107.4 per 100,000 people 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublic charging points at all speeds, for every 100,000 people.
Businesses trading here: 2,615 businesses 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with sales or staff in the year.

More figures for Torridge from the ONS

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

This council’s area is covered by Devon and Torbay combined authority.

36 seats in 2026. Run by: independents, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Independent / Other 13, Liberal Democrats 12, Conservative and Unionist 5, Green Party (E&W) 4, Labour Party 2.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 36 councillors, by ward

Kerry O'Rourke (Liberal Democrats) — Appledore
Peter Hames (Green Party (E&W)) — Appledore
Huw Thomas (Green Party (E&W)) — Bideford East
James Craigie (Green Party (E&W)) — Bideford East
Jude Gubb (Independent / Other) — Bideford East
Doug Bushby (Independent / Other) — Bideford North
Teresa Tinsley (Liberal Democrats) — Bideford North
Trevor Johns (Liberal Democrats) — Bideford North
David Brenton (Labour Party) — Bideford South
Simon Inch (Independent / Other) — Bideford South
Annie Brenton (Labour Party) — Bideford West
Carl Hawkins (Independent / Other) — Bideford West
Philip Hackett (Independent / Other) — Broadheath
Stephen Gibson (Conservative and Unionist) — Broadheath
Chris Bright (Liberal Democrats) — Great Torrington
Doug Smith (Liberal Democrats) — Great Torrington
Lauren Bright (Liberal Democrats) — Great Torrington
Anna Dart (Independent / Other) — Hartland
Shirleyann Andrews (Liberal Democrats) — Hartland
Stephen Harding (Conservative and Unionist) — Hartland
Lyndon Piper (Liberal Democrats) — Holsworthy
Peter Shepherd (Independent / Other) — Holsworthy
Ken James (Independent / Other) — Milton & Tamarside
Nigel Kenneally (Liberal Democrats) — Milton & Tamarside
Philip Pennington (Independent / Other) — Monkleigh & Putford
Robert Hicks (Independent / Other) — Monkleigh & Putford
Chris Leather (Independent / Other) — Northam
Jane Whittaker (Conservative and Unionist) — Northam
Wendy Lo-Vel (Green Party (E&W)) — Northam
Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Liberal Democrats) — Shebbear & Langtree
Chris Wheatley (Liberal Democrats) — Shebbear & Langtree
Rosemary Lock (Conservative and Unionist) — Two Rivers & Three Moors
Thomas Elliott (Conservative and Unionist) — Two Rivers & Three Moors
Claire Hodson (Independent / Other) — Westward Ho!
Louis Bach (Independent / Other) — Westward Ho!
Stephen Middleton (Liberal Democrats) — Winkleigh

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.