Rushcliffe
Rushcliffe is a local government district with borough status in Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 111,129. Its council, Rushcliffe Borough Council (0115 981 9911), is based in West Bridgford. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by merging the West Bridgford Urban District, the Bingham Rural District and part of Basford Rural District. The district was named after the old Rushcliffe wapentake. Rushcliffe means "cliff where brushwood grows", from Old English "hris" "brushwood" and clif "cliff". Political representation. The member of parliament for the parliamentary constituency of Rushcliffe is the Conservative , Ruth Edwards. As of the December 2019 general election, Rushcliffe is one of eight Tory-held constituencies in Nottinghamshire, out of a total of eleven. The next general election is due in May 2024. Forty four councillors were elected at the borough council election in May 2019. There are 29 Conservatives, giving them control of the council. There are also 7 Labour, 3 Independents, 3 Liberal Democrats and 2 Greens. The next borough council election is due in May 2023. 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. Some of these villages cross the county boundary; some have a Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire) address and postcode. East Leake, in the south of Rushcliffe, has a Loughborough postcode, crossing the boundary. Geographically, the River Soar marks the divide between the two counties. The borough also is home to numerous villages along the  A60 corridor, heading to Loughborough (Leicestershire) three of these are, Bradmore, Bunny and Wysall. Demographics. In 2001, there were around 43,600 households in the district, with about 106,000 people. 44% or nearly half of Rushcliffe's population lives in West Bridgford. The average house price is the highest in Nottinghamshire and in the top three in the East Midlands. It is one of the most affluent areas of the East Midlands, and consistently in the top ten of the nicest places to live in the UK. Education. The district has the best GCSE results within Nottinghamshire and throughout the East  Midlands. . 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. 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. 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.