Harlow District Council

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.

Harlow District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
History
Founded	1 April 1974
Leadership
Chair	Andrew Johnson, Conservative since 26 May 2022[1][2]
Leader	Dan Swords, Conservative since 25 May 2023
Chief Executive	Andrew Bramidge since 16 December 2022[3]
Structure
Seats	33 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also: Harlow District Council elections

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

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