Dacorum Borough of Dacorum | |
---|---|
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | East of England |
Administrative county | Hertfordshire |
Founded | 1 April 1974 |
Admin. HQ | Hemel Hempstead |
Government | |
• Type | Non-metropolitan district |
• Body | Dacorum Borough Council |
• Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
• MPs: | David Taylor (L) Victoria Collins (LD) Gagan Mohindra (C) |
Area | |
• Total | 82 sq mi (212 km2) |
• Rank | 141st |
Population (2022) | |
• Total | 156,123 |
• Rank | Ranked 134th |
• Density | 1,900/sq mi (740/km2) |
Ethnicity (2021) | |
• Ethnic groups | |
Religion (2021) | |
• Religion | List
|
Time zone | UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (British Summer Time) |
Postcode | |
ONS code | 26UC (ONS) E07000096 (GSS) |
Dacorum is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. The council is based in Hemel Hempstead. The borough also includes the towns of Berkhamsted and Tring and surrounding villages. The borough had a population of 155,081 in 2021. [2] Dacorum was created in 1974 and is named after the ancient hundred of Dacorum which had covered a similar area. The borough of Dacorum is the westernmost of Hertfordshire's ten districts. It borders St Albans, Three Rivers, Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire.
Dacorum means "of the Dacians" in medieval Latin. [lower-alpha 1] [3] The name appears to reference a period in Saxon times when the area formed part of the Danelaw which covered much of what is now eastern England, although the duration and extent of Danish occupation in this area is unclear and continues to be debated by historians. In 1086, the Domesday Book records a hundred called Danais (also meaning "of the Danes") and a neighbouring hundred called Tring; the two had merged into a single hundred by about 1200 which was thereafter called Dacorum. [4] From the seventeenth century onwards, hundreds gradually declined in importance as administrative divisions, with their functions passing to other bodies such as the county courts. The final administrative functions of hundreds were extinguished in 1886. [5]
The modern local government district of Dacorum was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of five former districts and parts of another two, which were all abolished at the same time: [6]
The new district was named Dacorum after the medieval hundred, which had covered a similar area. [7]
The district was granted borough status in 1984, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. Hemel Hempstead had maintained Charter Trustees from 1974 to 1984. The amalgamation of the former local authorities was symbolised in the seven oak leaves which surround a Tudor rose on the Dacorum coat of arms, issued in 1992. [8]
Dacorum Borough Council | |
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Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Claire Hamilton since October 2020 [10] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 51 Councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
Plurality voting system | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Meeting place | |
The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1DN | |
Website | |
www |
Hertfordshire has a two-tier structure of local government, with the ten district councils (including Dacorum Borough Council) providing district-level services, and Hertfordshire County Council providing county-level services. In some areas there is an additional third tier of civil parishes. [11]
The Liberal Democrats won a majority of the seats on the council at the 2023 election. Prior to 2023 the Conservatives had held a majority of the seats since 2003.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: [12] [13]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 1974–1976 | |
Conservative | 1976–1995 | |
Labour | 1995–1999 | |
No overall control | 1999–2003 | |
Conservative | 2003–2023 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2023–2024 | |
No overall control | 2024-Present |
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Dacorum. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1995 have been:
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Julia Coleman [14] | Labour | 1995 | 1999 | |
Andrew Williams | Conservative | 1999 | 17 May 2023 | |
Ron Tindall | Liberal Democrats | 17 May 2023 | 15 May 2024 | |
Adrian England | Liberal Democrats | 15 May 2024 |
Following the 2023 election and a subsequent change of allegiance in March 2024, the composition of the council was: [15] [16]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | 18 | |
Conservative | 17 | |
Labour | 4 | |
Independent | 11 | |
Total | 51 |
The next election is due in 2027.
The council is based at The Forum on Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. From the council's creation in 1974 until 2017, the council was based at Dacorum Civic Centre, also on Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. That building had previously been called Hemel Hempstead Town Hall, having been built for Hemel Hempstead Borough Council in 1966 to replace the Old Town Hall on High Street. On 16 January 2017 the council opened its new headquarters at The Forum, on the corner of Marlowes and Combe Street, immediately south of the Civic Centre, which was demolished shortly afterwards. [17]
Since the last boundary changes in 2007 the council has comprised 51 councillors, representing 25 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. The whole council is elected together every four years. [18]
The borough's wards are: [18]
Hemel Hempstead is an unparished area. The rest of the borough is divided into 16 civil parishes, with Berkhamsted and Tring parish councils taking the style "town council". The civil parishes are: [19]
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In terms of television, Dacorum is served by BBC London and ITV London with television signals received from the Crystal Palace transmitter [21] and the Hemel Hempstead relay transmitter. [22] However, Tring receives regional overlaps of both Sandy Heath (BBC East/ITV Anglia) [23] and Oxford (BBC South/ITV Meridian) transmitters. [24]
Radio stations for the area are:
Local newspapers are Hemel Hempstead Gazette and St Albans Observer.
Two of the civil parishes in the borough also maintain their own separate twinning arrangements:
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford, and the county town is Hertford.
Berkhamsted is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, 26 miles (42 km) north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is encircled by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Hemel Hempstead is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located 24 miles (39 km) north-west of London; nearby towns include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 census was 95,961.
Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 30 miles (50 km) from Central London.
Nash Mills is a civil parish within Hemel Hempstead and Dacorum Borough Council on the northern side of the Grand Union Canal, formerly the River Gade, and in the southernmost corner of Hemel Hempstead. There is evidence of a mill in this location since the 11th century and the row of 16th century mill cottages still remain. John Dickinson established a number of papermaking mills in the area in the 19th century.
Hemel Hempstead is a constituency in Hertfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system. Since 2024, it has been represented by David Taylor of the Labour Party.
South West Hertfordshire is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented since 2019 by Gagan Mohindra, a Conservative.
Dacorum Borough Council in Hertfordshire, England is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2007, 51 councillors have been elected from 25 wards.
Hemel Hempstead Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974.
The Hemel Hempstead Gazette & Express is a local newspaper in the United Kingdom that covers the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring and the surrounding area in Hertfordshire.
West Hertfordshire was a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system. The constituency name was used from the 1983 general election, when the Hemel Hempstead constituency was renamed "West Hertfordshire", to the 1997 general election, when the "Hemel Hempstead" name was restored.
This article gives brief information on schools that cater for pupils up to the age of 11 in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England. Most are county maintained primary schools, sometimes known as "junior mixed infant" (JMI). A small number are voluntary aided church schools or independent (fee-paying). The Local Education Authority is Hertfordshire County Council.
Cow Roast is a hamlet within the civil parishes of Northchurch and Wigginton in Hertfordshire, England. It is between Tring and Berkhamsted, along the A4251, adjacent to the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast Main Line. Today it comprises a row of 20th-century houses and a marina, together with several older properties including a restaurant. There are three car dealerships and a petrol station beside the main road.
Dacorum Heritage (DH) is a local history advocacy group in the United Kingdom. It collects and records the history of the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, in the south of England, and aims to encourage the appreciation of the heritage of Dacorum.
DanaisHundred was a judicial and taxation subdivision of Hertfordshire, in the west of the county, that existed from the 10th to the 19th century. It gave its name to the modern local government district of Dacorum, established in 1974, which covers a similar area. Danais was Latinised to Dacorum in 1196. The name Danais means the Hundred of the Danes and refers to its incorporation into the Danelaw for a period in the tenth century.
Harpenden and Berkhamsted is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. The current MP is Victoria Collins.
The Forum is a municipal building in Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. The building accommodates the meeting place and offices of Dacorum Borough Council as well as the local library.
Julia Coleman was the leader of Dacorum Borough Council from 1995 to 1999...