North Hertfordshire
# North Hertfordshire

North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth. The district borders East Hertfordshire, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield, St Albans, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, and South Cambridgeshire.

## History

North Hertfordshire was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of five former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:

* Baldock Urban District
* Hitchin Urban District
* Hitchin Rural District
* Letchworth Urban District
* Royston Urban District

The new district was named North Hertfordshire, reflecting its position within the wider county.

## Governance

Hertfordshire has a two-tier structure of local government, with the ten district councils (including North Hertfordshire District Council) providing district-level services, and Hertfordshire County Council providing county-level services.

### Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2019 election, being led by a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition.

The first election to North Hertfordshire District Council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1974. Political control since 1974 has been as follows:

| Party in control | Years |
| - | - |
| No overall control | 1974–1976 |
| Conservative | 1976–1994 |
| No overall control | 1994–1996 |
| Labour | 1996–1999 |
| Conservative | 1999–2019 |
| No overall control | 2019–present |

### Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1974 have been:

| Councillor | Party | From | To |
| - | - | - | - |
| Bob Flatman | Conservative | 1 Apr 1974 | 19 May 1992 |
| Geoff Woods | Conservative | 19 May 1992 | 1995 |
| David Kearns | Labour | 1995 | 1999 |
| F. John Smith | Conservative | 1999 | 9 May 2010 |
| Lynda Needham | Conservative | 20 May 2010 | 5 May 2019 |
| Martin Stears-Handscomb | Labour | 21 May 2019 | 9 May 2021 |
| Elizabeth Dennis | Labour | 26 May 2021 | |

### Composition

Following the 2023 election the composition of the council was as follows:

| Party | Party | Councillors |
| - | - | - |
| | Labour | 19 |
| | Liberal Democrats | 15 |
| | Conservative | 15 |
| Total | Total | 49 |

The next election is due in 2024.

### Premises

When the council was created in 1974, it inherited five sets of offices from the five former authorities, spread across the four towns of Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock and Royston. Initially the new council used the former Hitchin Rural District Council's offices (later called Centenary House) on Grammar School Walk in Hitchin as its headquarters, with the other offices providing additional accommodation. In 1975, the year after the new council's creation, it consolidated most of its functions into a new six-storey building called Council Offices on Gernon Road in Letchworth, designed by Tony Walker of architects Damond Lock, Grabowski and Partners. The building was formally opened on 22 July 1975 by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The council rented the building until 2013, when it purchased it for £3.6 million.

## Towns and Parishes

North Hertfordshire contains four towns, being Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, and Royston. The district also borders the northern, western and southern edges of Stevenage, and some parts of the latter's urban area lie within North Hertfordshire rather than the borough of Stevenage, notably including much of the Great Ashby area.

North Hertfordshire contains 35 civil parishes. Six of the smaller parishes do not have parish councils, having instead a parish meeting, being those marked with asterisks(*) below. In addition, the three towns of Baldock, Hitchin, and Letchworth are unparished areas, as no successor parishes were created for those three former urban districts on their abolition in 1974. A Letchworth Garden City Parish was subsequently created in 2005, but was abolished in 2013.

* Ashwell
* Barley
* Barkway
* Bygrave
* Caldecote
* Clothall*
* Codicote
* Graveley
* Great Ashby
* Hexton*
* Hinxworth
* Holwell
* Ickleford
* Kelshall*
* Kimpton
* Kings Walden
* Knebworth
* Langley*
* Lilley
* Newnham
* Nuthampstead*
* Offley
* Pirton
* Preston
* Radwell*
* Reed
* Royston
* Rushden
* Sandon
* St Ippolyts
* St Paul's Walden
* Therfield
* Wallington
* Weston
* Wymondley
* ↑ Shares grouped parish council with Newnham
* ↑ Council styled "Community Council"
* ↑ Shares grouped parish council with Caldecote
* ↑ Council styled "Town Council"
* ↑ Shares grouped parish council with Wallington
* ↑ Shares grouped parish council with Rushden

## Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2007, the council has comprised 49 councillors representing 24 wards, electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, electing approximately a third of the council each time. Elections to Hertfordshire County Council are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections. Proposals and new ward boundaries are being drawn up to change the electoral cycle to whole-council elections every four years from 2024.

### Wards

The wards of the district are:

* Arbury (1)
* Baldock East (1)
* Baldock Town (3)
* Cadwell (1)
* Chesfield (2)
* Codicote (1)
* Ermine (1)
* Hitchin Bearton (3)
* Hitchin Highbury (3)
* Hitchin Oughton (2)
* Hitchin Priory (2)
* Hitchin Walsworth (3)
* Hitchwood, Offa and Hoo (3)
* Kimpton (1)
* Knebworth (2)
* Letchworth East (2)
* Letchworth Grange (3)
* Letchworth South East (3)
* Letchworth South West (3)
* Letchworth Wilbury (2)
* Royston Heath (2)
* Royston Meridian (2)
* Royston Palace (2)
* Weston and Sandon (1)

## Arms

Coat of arms of North Hertfordshire :

* NotesGranted 16 January 1975
* CrestOn a wreath of the colours two sprigs of oak in saltire fructed Proper enfiling a mural crown Or perched thereon a hooded crow (Corvus cornix cornix) close Proper.
* EscutcheonChevronny of six Or and Gules a pale Ermine on a chief Vert a fleece between two garbs of barley Or.
* SupportersOn either side a hart attired of ten tynes Proper gorged with a coronet pendent therefrom a pentagon Or charged with a cogwheel Sable
* MottoMemores Acte Prudentes Futuri

## Logo

In 2021 the council adopted a new logo of four hearts (shown in the infobox above) and the style "North Herts Council" instead of its full formal name of "North Hertfordshire District Council". Prior to this, the council had used a logo of the initials "NHDC" in a green and purple square for approximately thirty years.

