Bridgwater Town Council was re-established in 2003 and is Labour controlled. Until 1974 Bridgwater had a historic ,always radical and mainly socialist Borough Council, but this was destroyed in the local government reforms of that year which saw it subsumed by Sedgemoor District Council – better known as ‘direct rule from Cheddar’. From 1974 until 2003 Bridgwater existed solely as a group of ‘Charter Trustees’ which comprised of the 15 Bridgwater Councillors elected to represent Sedgemoor sitting as an advisory board for the town. Full powers were regained in 2003 and the town has been Labour controlled ever since.
The Mayor of Bridgwater is elected every year from amongst the 16 town councillors. In 2018-19 it is Diogo Rodrigues.
The Leader of the Town Council is Brian Smedley and the deputy leader is Kath Pearce.
Bridgwater Town Council operates on a Forum system which involves members of the public in it;s decision making with named councillors taking the lead. This includes
Tony Heywood (Transport & Culture)
Mick Lerry (Staff, Planning and Business)
Leigh Redman (Properties & EDF)
Dave Loveridge (Town Centre & Museum)
The current Town Clerk is David Mears.
Full list of town councillors
Westover
Brian Smedley (Labour)
Kath Pearce (Labour)
Pat Morley (Labour
Hamp
John Turner (Labour)
Adrian Moore (Labour)
Eastover
Tony Heywood (Labour)
Dave Loveridge (Labour)
Victoria
Mick Lerry (Labour)
Siobhan Wilson (Labour)
Fairfax West
Graham Granter (Labour)
Fairfax East
Alex Glassford (Labour)
Mike Creswell (Con)
Dunwear North
Diogo Rodrigues (Labour)
Dunwear South
Leigh Redman (Labour)
Wyndham
Liz Leavy (Labour)
Peter Johnstone (Lib Dem)