Jump to content

Harlow District Council

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harlow District Council
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 1974
Leadership
Andrew Johnson,
Conservative
since 26 May 2022[1][2]
Dan Swords,
Conservative
since 25 May 2023
Andrew Bramidge
since 16 December 2022[3]
Structure
Seats33 councillors
Political groups
Administration (17)
  Conservative (17)
Opposition (16)
  Labour (16)
Elections
Last election
2 May 2024
Next election
7 May 2026
Meeting place
Civic Centre, The Water Gardens, College Square, Harlow, CM20 1WG
Website
www.harlow.gov.uk

Harlow District Council is the local authority for Harlow in Essex, England. Harlow is a non-metropolitan district, covering just the town of Harlow itself. The council generally styles itself Harlow Council.

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2021. It is based at Harlow Civic Centre.

The neighbouring districts are Epping Forest District and East Hertfordshire.

History

[edit]

Harlow was designated a new town on 25 March 1947.[4] The area for the new town was within the Epping Rural District at the time it was designated, and broadly covered the parishes of Harlow, Latton, Netteswell, Great Parndon, and Little Parndon. As work on the new town got underway the smaller parishes were abolished in stages. On 1 April 1949 Latton was absorbed into Harlow parish and Little Parndon was absorbed into Netteswell parish. On 1 April 1955, the three remaining parishes of Harlow, Great Parndon and Netteswell were merged into a single parish called Harlow, with some adjustments to the boundaries with neighbouring parishes of Epping Upland, Matching, North Weald Bassett, Roydon and Sheering, to bring the development area into a single parish.[5] On the same date the enlarged Harlow parish was made an urban district, making it independent from Epping Rural District.[6]

Urban districts were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. A new non-metropolitan district called Harlow was created covering the same area as the former Harlow Urban District.[7][8]

Governance

[edit]

Harlow Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Essex County Council.[9] There are no civil parishes in Harlow; the entire district is an unparished area.[10]

Political control

[edit]

The council has been under Conservative control since the 2021 election.[11]

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 1974–2002
No overall control 2002–2008
Conservative 2008–2012
Labour 2012–2021
Conservative 2021–present

Leadership

[edit]

The leaders of the council since 2008 have been:[14]

Councillor Party From To
Andrew Johnson Conservative 2008 24 May 2012
Mark Wilkinson Labour 24 May 2012 12 Jun 2014
Jon Clempner Labour 12 Jun 2014 11 Jan 2018
Emma Toal Labour 1 Feb 2018 24 May 2018
Mark Ingall Labour 24 May 2018 9 May 2021
Andrew Johnson[15] Conservative 20 May 2021 4 Oct 2021
Russell Perrin[16] Conservative 28 Oct 2021 25 May 2023
Dan Swords[17] Conservative 25 May 2023

Composition

[edit]

Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:[18]

Party Councillors
Conservative 17
Labour 16
Total 33

The next election is due in May 2026.

Premises

[edit]
The old Town Hall from the Water Gardens.

The council was initially based at the Town Hall, a tower block on The High in the town centre, which had been completed in 1960 for the old Harlow Urban District Council.[19] In 2004 the council moved to Harlow Civic Centre as part of a wider retail development around the town's Water Gardens. The new building was formally opened in May 2004 by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.[20] The old Town Hall was demolished shortly afterwards.

Elections

[edit]

Since the last boundary changes in 2024, 33 councillors have been elected from 11 wards. Elections are held three years out of every four for a third of the council at a time. Election to Essex County Council are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no district council elections.[21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Council minutes, 26 May 2022" (PDF). Harlow Council. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Andrew Johnson takes on historic second term as Chair of Harlow Council". Your Harlow. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Andrew Bramidge appointed Chief Executive". Harlow Council. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  4. ^ "No. 37198". The London Gazette. 28 March 1947. p. 1451.
  5. ^ Youngs, Frederic A. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England Volume I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 139–147. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
  6. ^ "Harlow Urban District". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  7. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
  8. ^ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 31 May 2023
  9. ^ "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 31 May 2023
  10. ^ "Election maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Local elections 2021: Conservatives take Harlow from Labour". BBC News. 8 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Harlow". BBC News Online. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Council minutes". Harlow District Council. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  15. ^ "Harlow Council leader steps down to 'pursue dreams'". BBC News. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Leader of Harlow Council resigns over work life balance". BBC News. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  17. ^ Meyler, Piers (26 May 2023). "Harlow councillor, 22, becomes one of youngest council leaders in the country". Essex Live. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  18. ^ "Local elections 2024: full mayoral and council results for England". The Guardian. 4 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  19. ^ "Earl Attlee opens new town hall". Hertfordshire Mercury. Hertford. 15 July 1960. p. 4. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  20. ^ "HRH the Duke of Gloucester to open Harlow Council's Civic Centre". Harlow Council. 17 May 2004. Archived from the original on 24 May 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  21. ^ "The Harlow (Electoral Changes) Order 2023", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2023/797, retrieved 4 July 2024