Dacorum Borough of Dacorum | |
|---|---|
 Hemel Hempstead town centre | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Dacorum shown withinHertfordshire | |
| 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 (2024) | |
• Total | 161,420 |
| • Rank | Ranked 136th |
| • Density | 1,970/sq mi (761/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 alocal government district withborough status inHertfordshire, England. The council is based inHemel Hempstead. The borough also includes the towns ofBerkhamsted andTring and surrounding villages. The borough had a population of 155,081 in 2021.[2] Dacorum was created in 1974 and is named after the medieval"hundred" (a type of county division) ofDacorum, which had covered a similar area. The borough of Dacorum is the westernmost of Hertfordshire's ten districts. It bordersSt Albans,Three Rivers,Buckinghamshire andCentral Bedfordshire.
Dacorum was one of the hundreds of Hertfordshire. In theDomesday Book of 1086 the area was recorded as two separate hundreds:Danais (meaning "of the Danes") andTring. The nameDanais relates to a period inSaxon times when the area formed part of theDanelaw, which covered much of what is now eastern England, although the duration and extent of Danish presence in Hertfordshire remain uncertain and continue to be debated by historians.[3]
By about 1200 the two hundreds had merged into a single hundred, which from 1196 onward was increasingly recorded in Latin asDacorum ("of theDacians"[4]). After the mid-13th century,Dacorum completely replaced the older names.[3] The substitution ofDanais withDacorum reflects a broader medieval usage in which the Latin nameDacia, originally denoting anancient territory of south-east Europe centred on modernRomania, came to be applied toDenmark and later toScandinavia as a whole. This geographical confusion was influenced byJordanes' account that theGoths, who had settled in Dacia in south-east Europe during theMigration Period, had originally come from Scandinavia.[5][6]
From the seventeenth century onwards, hundreds gradually declined in importance as administrative divisions, with their functions passing to other bodies such as thecounty courts. The final administrative functions of hundreds were extinguished in 1886.[7]
The modern local government district of Dacorum was created on 1 April 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of five former districts and parts of another two, which were all abolished at the same time:[8]
The new district was named Dacorum after the medieval hundred, which had covered a similar area.[9]
The district was grantedborough status in 1984, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. Hemel Hempstead had maintainedcharter trustees from 1974 to 1984. The amalgamation of the former local authorities was symbolised in the seven oak leaves which surround aTudor rose on the Dacorumcoat of arms, issued in 1992.[10]
Dacorum Borough Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Chief Executive (interim) | Darren Welsh since March 2025[12] |
| 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, andHertfordshire County Council providing county-level services. Most of Dacorum is also covered bycivil parishes, which form a third tier of local government in their areas.[13][14]
TheLiberal Democrats won a majority of the seats on the council at the2023 election. Following changes of allegiance, the party lost its majority in September 2024. Since then, the party has formed a minority administration.[15] 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:[16][17]
| 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 theleader of the council. The leaders since 1995 have been:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julia Coleman[18] | Labour | 1995 | 1999 | |
| Andrew Williams[19] | Conservative | 1999 | May 2023 | |
| Ron Tindall[20][21] | Liberal Democrats | 17 May 2023 | 15 May 2024 | |
| Adrian England[21][22] | Liberal Democrats | 15 May 2024 | Feb 2025 | |
| Sally Symington[23] | Liberal Democrats | 2 Apr 2025 | ||
Following the2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to November 2024, the composition of the council was:[24][25][26]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | 18 | |
| Conservative | 18 | |
| Labour | 5 | |
| Independent | 10 | |
| Total | 51 | |
The next election is due in 2027.[26]
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 theOld 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.[27]
.jpg)
Since the last boundary changes in 2007 the council has comprised 51councillors, representing 25wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. The whole council is elected together every four years.[28]
The borough's wards are:[28]
Hemel Hempstead is anunparished area. The rest of the borough is divided into 16civil parishes, with Berkhamsted and Tring parish councils taking the style "town council". The civil parishes are:[29]
|
|
In terms of television, Dacorum is served byBBC London andITV London with television signals received from theCrystal Palace transmitter[31] and theHemel Hempstead relay transmitter.[32] However,Tring receives regional overlaps of bothSandy Heath (BBC East/ITV Anglia)[33] andOxford (BBC South/ITV Meridian) transmitters.[34]
Radio stations for the area are:
Local newspapers areHemel Hempstead Gazette andSt Albans Observer.
Neu-Isenburg, GermanyTwo of thecivil parishes in the borough also maintain their own separate twinning arrangements:
Beaune (France)Julia Coleman was the leader of Dacorum Borough Council from 1995 to 1999...
