Three councillors are elected for each of the four wards of Fernilee, Furness Vale, Taxal and Yeardsley. The next tier of local government is High Peak Borough Council. Whaley Bridge constitutes one of the borough's 28 wards. It returns 3 of the 43 borough councillors. At the last council elections in May 2015, one Conservative Party, one Liberal Democrat and one independent councillor were elected. The top tier of local administration is the 64-member Derbyshire County Council. The town is included in the electoral division of Whaley Bridge and Blackbrook, electing one county councillor. In the 2021 local elections, the town's former Labour MP Ruth George was re-elected to Derbyshire County Council, defeating former Conservative MP Edwina Currie Jones. Civic history The township of Yeardsley-cum-Whaley, Cheshire, was part of the ancient parish of Taxal. The township adopted the Local Government Act 1858 and formed a local board to govern the town. Under the Local Government Act 1894 this became Yeardsley-cum-Whaley Urban District. On the Derbyshire side of the Goyt, the parish of Fernilee was included in Chapel en le Frith Rural District. In 1936 a county review order merged the urban district with the built-up part of Fernilee to form Whaley Bridge Urban District, with the new district placed in Derbyshire. In 1974 the Local Government Act 1972 came into force, abolishing all urban and rural districts in England and Wales, and replacing them with non-metropolitan districts. Whaley Bridge became part of the district of High Peak, with a successor parish formed for the area of the urban district. The parish council resolved that Whaley Bridge should have the status of a town. Whaley Bridge is surrounded by, but not part of, the Peak District National Park. Education The town has two primary schools: Whaley Bridge Primary School and Taxal & Fernilee Church of England Primary School. For secondary education, children must travel further afield, typically to Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills, Hope Valley, Buxton, Macclesfield or Stockport. Schools in these areas include Chapel-en-le-Frith High School, New Mills School, Hope Valley College, King's School and Stockport Grammar School. Transport Whaley Bridge railway station is on the Buxton line between Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and Buxton. There is a generally hourly service in each direction, operated by Northern Trains. The town is served by bus services operated primarily by High Peak. This includes the 199 skyline service, which runs every 30 minutes between Buxton,