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Hertfordshire County Council

British administrative body

Summary

British administrative body

Field	Value
name	Hertfordshire County Council
coa_pic	Arms of Hertfordshire County Council.svg
coa_res	150px
coa-alt	Arms of Hertfordshire County Council
logo_pic	Hertfordshire County Council.svg
logo_res	200px
house_type	Non-metropolitan county
leader1_type	Chair
leader1	Laurence Brass
party1
Liberal Democrat
election1	20 May 2025
leader2_type	Leader
leader2	Steve Jarvis
party2
Liberal Democrat
election2	20 May 2025
leader3_type	Chief Executive
party3
leader3	Angie Ridgwell
election3	September 2024
seats	78 councillors
structure1	File:United Kingdom Hertfordshire County Council 2025 2.svg
structure1_res	200px
structure1_alt	Hertfordshire County Council composition
:	border	darkgray}} Liberal Democrat (32)}}
:	border	darkgray}} Conservative (21)
:	border	darkgray}} Reform (15)
:	border	darkgray}} Green (5)
:	border	darkgray}} Labour (4)
:	border	darkgray}} Independent (1)
joint_committees	East of England Local Government Association
term_length	4 years
voting_system1	First past the post
last_election1	1 May 2025
next_election1	TBC
session_room	County Hall, Hertford, January 2024.jpg
session_res	220
meeting_place	County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG138DQ
website

| coa-alt = Arms of Hertfordshire County Council Liberal Democrat Liberal Democrat ; Administration (32) : ; Opposition (46) : Conservative (21) : Reform (15) : Green (5) : Labour (4) : Independent (1) Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social care, transport, education, and the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. The Liberal Democrats have held a plurality of the seats on the council since May 2025, and currently run the council as a minority administration. The council is based at County Hall in Hertford.

History

Elected county councils were created under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over many administrative functions that had previously been performed by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions.

[[Shire Hall, Hertford]]: Council's first meeting place

The first elections were held in January 1889, and the council formally came into being on 1 April 1889, on which day it held its first meeting at Shire Hall, Hertford, the courthouse (built 1771) which had served as the meeting place of the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. The first chairman of the council was Francis Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper, who was also a Liberal member of the House of Lords.

Local government across England and Wales was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, establishing a system of upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils. The 1972 Act classed Hertfordshire as a non-metropolitan county, which determined the division of responsibilities between the county council and the ten district councils which were created in Hertfordshire.

Governance

The council provides county-level services. District-level services are provided by the county's ten district councils. Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government for their areas.

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2025 election, with the Liberal Democrats the largest party and running the council as a minority administration.

Political control of the county council since 1974 has been as follows:

Party in control	Years
	1974–1977
	1977–1985
	1985–1989
	1989–1993
	1993–1999
	1999–2025
	2025–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1995 have been:

Councillor	Party	From	To
John Metcalf		1995	15 Jun 1999
title=Tories celebrate regaining power at County Hall	url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0003617%2F19990618&page=3	access-date=27 March 2025	work=Cheshunt and Waltham Mercury	date=18 June 1999	page=3}}	15 Jun 1999	21 Mar 2006
David Beatty		28 Mar 2006	26 Sep 2007
Robert Gordon		9 Oct 2007	6 Oct 2017
David Williams		21 Nov 2017	25 May 2021
Richard Roberts		25 May 2021	20 May 2025
Steve Jarvis		20 May 2025

Composition

After the 2025 election and changes of allegiance up to October 2025, the composition of the council was:

Party	Councillors	Total:	78
	32
	21
	15
	5
	4
	1

Premises

Robertson House, Six Hills Way, Stevenage, SG1{{nbsp}}2FQ: Council's offices in Stevenage.

The council is based at County Hall on Pegs Lane in Hertford, lying to the south-west of the town centre. The building was completed in 1939; there was no opening ceremony due to the outbreak of the Second World War. The council also has offices in Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, and Welwyn Garden City.

Elections

Main article: Hertfordshire County Council elections

Elections are held every four years, interspersed by three years of elections to the ten district councils in the county. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, there have been 78 electoral divisions electing one councillor each.

References

(20 May 2025). "Hertfordshire County Council elects new Chairman". Hertfordshire County Council.
(20 May 2025). "New County Council Leader and Cabinet appointed". Hertfordshire County Council.
(25 June 2024). "New Hertfordshire County Council Chief Executive appointed". Hertfordshire County Council.
(22 May 2025). "Liberal Democrats to run council following win". [[BBC News]].
{{NHLE
(6 April 1889). "Hertfordshire County Council". Hertfordshire Mercury.
{{cite legislation UK. (1972)
"Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
"Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
(18 June 1999). "Tories celebrate regaining power at County Hall". Cheshunt and Waltham Mercury.
(23 March 2006). "Council leader dies". The Comet.
(31 March 2006). "New leader picked after death of county leader". Local Government Chronicle.
(26 September 2007). "Council leader stands down". Watford Observer.
(3 October 2007). "Robert Gordon set to lead council". Watford Observer.
(7 October 2017). "Tributes to Robert Gordon leader of Hertfordshire County Council who has passed away unexpectedly". Herts Advertiser.
"Council minutes, 21 November 2017".
(10 May 2021). "Hertfordshire County Council election results 2021: Conservatives keep control of county council - but lose their leader". Hemel Today.
"Council minutes, 25 May 2021".
(2 May 2025). "Conservatives lose 26-year control of county council". BBC News.
Price, Deborah. (2025-05-21). "Labour county councillor joins Liberal Democrats three weeks after election".
(9 October 2025). "Reform UK defectors reject calls for by-election". [[BBC News]].
"Hertfordshire County Council". [[BBC News]].
"Hertfordshire's County Councillors by Party". Hertfordshire County Council.
"Hertfordshire". Thorncliffe.
{{National Heritage List for England
"Our offices".
{{cite legislation UK. (2015)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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