Barnstaple Barnstaple has been a civil parish governed by a town council. From 1295 the Borough of Barnstaple was represented in the House of Commons by two Members of Parliament until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member. The constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election and was consolidated into the large modern constituency of North Devon, which was held by Nick Harvey, MP, of the Liberal Democrats from 1992 until 2015. In the United Kingdom general election, 2015, Peter Heaton-Jones of the Conservative Party was elected and re-elected again in 2017 with an increased vote share of
Barnstaple Bideford and to Bude and then further down towards Cornwall. The Barnstaple bus network is privatised and run by many bus operators including Stagecoach South West. The main bus station is located on the junction with Queen Street and Belle Meadow Drive. Following frequent bus services operate from Barnstaple: National Express services to London, Heathrow Airport, Taunton, Bristol and Birmingham also run services from Barnstaple. The nearest airport is Exeter Airport. Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter, known as the Tarka Line after the local connection with Tarka the Otter. The station is near