Dacorum

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Local government district in England

title: "Dacorum" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dacorum", "districts-of-hertfordshire", "boroughs-in-england"] description: "Local government district in England" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacorum" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Local government district in England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
nameDacorum
other_nameBorough of Dacorum
typeBorough & Non-metropolitan district
image_skylineHemel Hempstead New Town Square.jpg
imagesize320px
image_captionHemel Hempstead town centre
image_shieldDacorum_Coat_of_Arms.svg
image_mapDacorum UK locator map.svg
map_captionDacorum shown within Hertfordshire
mapsizeframeless
subdivision_typeSovereign state
subdivision_nameUnited Kingdom
subdivision_type1Constituent country
subdivision_name1England
subdivision_type2Region
subdivision_name2East of England
subdivision_type3Administrative county
subdivision_name3Hertfordshire
seat_typeAdmin. HQ
seatHemel Hempstead
government_typeNon-metropolitan district
governing_bodyDacorum Borough Council
leader_titleLeadership:
leader_nameLeader & Cabinet
leader_title1MPs:
leader_name1David Taylor (L)
Victoria Collins (LD)
Gagan Mohindra (C)
established_titleFounded
established_date1 April 1974
area_rank
area_total_km2
latd
longd
population_as_of
population_total
population_rankRanked
population_density_km2auto
timezoneGreenwich Mean Time
utc_offset+0
timezone_DSTBritish Summer Time
utc_offset_DST+1
postal_code_typePostcode
postal_codeHP
blank_nameISO 3166-2
blank_info
blank1_nameONS code
blank1_info26UC (ONS)
E07000096 (GSS)
blank2_nameOS grid reference
blank2_info
blank3_nameNUTS 3
blank3_info
demographics_type1Ethnicity (2021)
demographics1_footnotes
demographics1_title1Ethnic groups
demographics_type2Religion (2021)
demographics2_footnotes
demographics2_title1Religion
::

|name = Dacorum |other_name = Borough of Dacorum |type = Borough & Non-metropolitan district | image_skyline = Hemel Hempstead New Town Square.jpg | imagesize = 320px | image_alt= | image_caption = Hemel Hempstead town centre |image_shield = Dacorum_Coat_of_Arms.svg |image_map = Dacorum UK locator map.svg |map_caption = Dacorum shown within Hertfordshire |mapsize = frameless |subdivision_type = Sovereign state |subdivision_name = United Kingdom |subdivision_type1 = Constituent country |subdivision_name1 = England |subdivision_type2 = Region |subdivision_name2 = East of England |subdivision_type3 = Administrative county |subdivision_name3 = Hertfordshire |seat_type = Admin. HQ |seat = Hemel Hempstead |government_type = Non-metropolitan district |governing_body = Dacorum Borough Council |leader_title = Leadership: |leader_name = Leader & Cabinet |leader_title1 = MPs: |leader_name1 = David Taylor (L) Victoria Collins (LD) Gagan Mohindra (C) |established_title = Founded |established_date = 1 April 1974 |founder = |area_rank = |area_total_km2 = |latd= |latm= |lats= |latNS= |longd= |longm= |longs= |longEW= |population_as_of = |population_total = |population_rank = Ranked |population_density_km2 = auto |timezone = Greenwich Mean Time |utc_offset = +0 |timezone_DST = British Summer Time |utc_offset_DST = +1 |postal_code_type = Postcode |postal_code = HP |area_code = |blank_name = ISO 3166-2 |blank_info = |blank1_name = ONS code |blank1_info = 26UC (ONS) E07000096 (GSS) |blank2_name = OS grid reference |blank2_info = |blank3_name = NUTS 3 |blank3_info = | demographics_type1 = Ethnicity (2021) | demographics1_footnotes = | demographics1_title1 = Ethnic groups | demographics1_info1 = | 86.8% White | 5.8% Asian | 3.4% Mixed | 2.8% Black | 1.2% other | demographics_type2 = Religion (2021) | demographics2_footnotes = | demographics2_title1 = Religion | demographics2_info1 = | 46.4% Christianity | 41.1% no religion | 9.4% other | 3.1% Islam

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. Dacorum was created in 1974 and is named after the medieval "hundred" (a type of county division) 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.

History

Dacorum was one of the hundreds of Hertfordshire. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the area was recorded as two separate hundreds: Danais (meaning "of the Danes") and Tring. The name Danais relates to 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 presence in Hertfordshire remain uncertain and continue to be debated by historians.

By about 1200 the two hundreds had merged into a single hundred, which from 1196 onward was increasingly recorded in Latin as Dacorum ("of the Dacians"). After the mid-13th century, Dacorum completely replaced the older names.

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.

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:

The new district was named Dacorum after the medieval hundred, which had covered a similar area.

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.

Governance

| name = Dacorum Borough Council | native_name = | transcription_name = | legislature = | logo_pic = Dacorum Borough Council.svg | logo_res = 140px | house_type = Non-metropolitan district council | body = | houses = | leader1_type = Mayor | leader1 = Catherine McArevey | party1 = Liberal Democrats | election1 = 14 May 2025 | leader2_type = Leader | leader2 = Sally Symington | party2 = Liberal Democrats | election2 = 2 April 2025 | leader3_type = Chief Executive (interim) | leader3 = Darren Welsh | party3 = | election3 = March 2025 | house1 = | seats = 51 Councillors | structure1 = Dacorum_Borough_Council_2023.svg | structure1_res = 250px | political_groups1 = ;Administration (18) : ;Other parties (33) : : : | committees1 = | committees2 = | joint_committees = | voting_system1 = Plurality voting system | voting_system2 = | last_election1 = 4 May 2023 | next_election1 = 6 May 2027 | session_room = File:The Forum, Dacorum Borough Council.jpg | session_res = 250px | meeting_place = The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP11DN | website = | footnotes = |}} 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. Most of Dacorum is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government in their areas.

Political control

The Liberal Democrats won a majority of the seats on the council at the 2023 election. Following changes of allegiance, the party lost its majority in September 2024. Since then, the party has formed a minority administration. 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: ::data[format=table]

Party in controlYears
1974–1976
1976–1995
1995–1999
1999–2003
2003–2023
2023–2024
2024–present
::

Leadership

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:

::data[format=table]

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Julia Coleman19951999
Andrew Williams1999May 2023
Ron Tindall17 May 202315 May 2024
title=Council minutes, 15 May 2024url=https://democracy.dacorum.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=156&MId=3836website=Dacorum Borough Councilaccess-date=29 March 2025}}
Sally Symington2 Apr 2025
::

Composition

Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to November 2024, the composition of the council was:

::data[format=table]

PartyCouncillorsTotal51
18
18
5
10
::

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

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. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Hemel_Hempstead_Civic_Centre_(geograph_7392439).jpg" caption="Civic Centre, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead: Council's headquarters 1974–2017, since demolished"] ::

Elections

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.

Wards

The borough's wards are:

Parishes

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:

Arms

|image = Dacorum_Coat_of_Arms.svg |escutcheon = Or seven oak leaves stalks inward Vert radiating from a Tudor rose Proper. |crest = A sprig of seven oak leaves Proper and acorns Or inflected to the sinister out of a mural crown Or. |mantling = Or and Gules. |supporters = Two stags in trian aspect Proper attired and unguled Or gorged with a wreath Or and Gules ribbons flowing outward depending therefrom a bezant charged with oak leaves and a Tudor rose as in the Arms standing on a compartment Vert strewn with sprigs of oak leaves Proper and acorns Or. |notes = Granted 21 January 1992.}}

Media

In terms of television, Dacorum is served by BBC London and ITV London with television signals received from the Crystal Palace transmitter and the Hemel Hempstead relay transmitter. However, Tring receives regional overlaps of both Sandy Heath (BBC East/ITV Anglia) and Oxford (BBC South/ITV Meridian) transmitters.

Radio stations for the area are:

Local newspapers are Hemel Hempstead Gazette and St Albans Observer.

Town twinning

Two of the civil parishes in the borough also maintain their own separate twinning arrangements:

References

Sources

References

  1. "Dacorum Local Authority".
  2. "Census 2021 Data".
  3. Williamson, Tom. (2010). "The Origins of Hertfordshire". Hertfordshire Publications.
  4. "Dācus: masculine noun II declension". Olivetti Media Communication.
  5. Jakobsen, Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig. (2012). "Why Dacia?".
  6. Rix, Robert. (2019). "The Barbarian North in Medieval Imagination". Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture.
  7. [[Riot (Damages) Act 1886]] (49 & 50 Vict. c. 38), s.2
  8. {{cite legislation UK. (1972)
  9. {{cite legislation UK. (1973)
  10. "About Dacorum".
  11. "Council minutes, 14 May 2025".
  12. (6 March 2025). "Borough council appoints interim chief". Municipal Journal.
  13. {{cite legislation UK. (1972)
  14. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
  15. (26 September 2024). "Female councillors resign over harassment complaint". BBC News.
  16. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
  17. "Dacorum". [[BBC Online]].
  18. (12 April 2017). "Tributes paid to former Hemel Hempstead Mayor Les Taber". Hemel Today.
  19. (5 May 2023). "Local elections 2023: Tories lose Dacorum, Hertsmere, East Herts and Welwyn Hatfield". BBC News.
  20. "Council minutes, 17 May 2023".
  21. "Council minutes, 15 May 2024".
  22. (19 February 2025). "Council leader resigns after party investigation". BBC News.
  23. "Council minutes, 2 April 2025".
  24. (9 May 2023). "Local elections 2023: live council results for England". The Guardian.
  25. (29 March 2024). "Somerset turns another Page". Thorncliffe.
  26. "Dacorum". Thorncliffe.
  27. (16 January 2017). "New £15m home for Dacorum Borough Council and library officially opens in Hemel Hempstead". Hemel Today.
  28. {{cite legislation UK. (2007)
  29. "Community connections".
  30. "East of England Region". Civic Heraldry of England.
  31. (May 2004). "Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter".
  32. (May 2004). "Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter".
  33. (1 May 2004). "Full Freeview on the Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) transmitter".
  34. (1 May 2004). "Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter".
  35. "Radio Dacorum".
  36. "Tring Radio".

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dacorumdistricts-of-hertfordshireboroughs-in-england