Welwyn Hatfield

For the constituency, see Welwyn Hatfield (UK Parliament constituency).

Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district with borough status in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Welwyn Garden City. The borough borders Hertsmere, St Albans, North Hertfordshire, East Hertfordshire, Broxbourne, and the London Borough of Enfield.

Welwyn Hatfield
Non-metropolitan district, Borough
Hatfield House
Welwyn Hatfield shown within Hertfordshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Non-metropolitan county	Hertfordshire
Admin HQ	Welwyn Garden City
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Named after	Welwyn (village) and Hatfield (town)
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
• MP	Andrew Lewin (L) Oliver Dowden (C)
Area
• Total	50.02 sq mi (129.55 km2)
• Rank	176th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	120,213
• Rank	197th (of 296)
• Density	2,400/sq mi (930/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 78.7% White 8.8% Asian 6.1% Black 4.1% Mixed 2.3% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 47.2% Christianity 37% no religion 12.5% other 3.3% Islam
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	26UL (ONS) E07000241 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TL245135

The borough includes the two towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with numerous smaller settlements from Woolmer Green in the north to Cuffley in the south. The borough has six railway stations on the Great Northern Railway; five being on the main line and one on the Hertford loop line. The Digswell Viaduct is a local landmark. The A1 road passes through the borough.

Much of the borough lies within the Metropolitan Green Belt which surrounds London. Welwyn Garden City is notable as being one of only two Garden Cities in the country, and is uniquely both a Garden City and a designated New Town. The University of Hertfordshire has its main campus at Hatfield.

History

Welwyn Hatfield was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:^[2]

• Hatfield Rural District
• Welwyn Garden City Urban District
• Welwyn Rural District

The new district was named Welwyn Hatfield.^[3] From 1974 to 2006 the council was called Welwyn Hatfield District Council. The council petitioned for borough status in 2005, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. The petition was agreed to by the Privy Council and a charter conferring borough status was issued which took effect on 22 May 2006, when John Hawkins was appointed the first mayor and the council's name changed to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.^[4]

Governance

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district council
Leadership
Mayor	Frank Marsh, Liberal Democrat since 20 May 2024[5]
Leader	Max Holloway, Labour since 20 May 2024[6][7]
Chief Executive	Ka Ng since July 2021[8]
Structure
Seats	48
Political groups	Administration (36)   Labour (20)   Liberal Democrats (16) Opposition (12)   Conservatives (11)   Independent (1)
Elections
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Council Offices, The Campus, Welwyn Garden City, AL8 6AE
Website
www.welhat.gov.uk

Hertfordshire has a two-tier structure of local government, with the ten district councils (including Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council) providing district-level services, and Hertfordshire County Council providing county-level services.^[9]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election. After that election, the Conservatives were the largest party, but a Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition formed to take control of the council.^[10] The Liberal Democrats were the larger party in the coalition from 2023 to 2024. Following the 2024 election, a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition continued to run the council, with Labour overtaking their coalition partners and also becoming the largest party on the council.^[11]

The first election to the 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:^[12][13]

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1979
	Labour	1979–1992
	Conservative	1992–1994
	Labour	1994–1999
	Conservative	1999–2000
	Labour	2000–2002
	Conservative	2002–2019
	No overall control	2019–2021
	Conservative	2021–2023
	No overall control	2023–present

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Welwyn Hatfield, and is usually held by a different councillor each year. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2005 have been:

Councillor	Party		From	To
John Dean[14]		Conservative	May 2005	May 2018
Mandy Perkins[15][16]		Conservative	21 May 2018	29 Sep 2018
Tony Kingsbury[17][18]		Conservative	19 Nov 2018	May 2023
Paul Zukowskyj[19][20]		Liberal Democrats	22 May 2023	May 2024
Max Holloway[21][11]		Labour	20 May 2024

Composition

Following the 2024 local elections and subsequent changes up to March 2025, the composition of the council was:^[22][23][24]

Party		Councillors
	Labour	20
	Liberal Democrats	16
	Conservative	11
	Independent	1
Total		48

The next elections are due to be held in 2026, where a third of the council's seats will be up for election.^[25]

Premises

The council is based at the Council Offices on The Campus in the centre of Welwyn Garden City, which it inherited from the old Welwyn Garden City Urban District Council. The building was completed in 1937.^[26]

Towns and Parishes

Welwyn Hatfield contains eight civil parishes. The town of Welwyn Garden City is an unparished area. The parishes are:

• Ayot St Lawrence
• Ayot St Peter
• Essendon
• Hatfield^[a]
• North Mymms
• Northaw and Cuffley
• Welwyn
• Woolmer Green

Elections

See also: Welwyn Hatfield local elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2016 the council has comprised 48 councillors representing 16 wards, each of which elects three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, electing one councillor from each ward each time. Elections to Hertfordshire County Council are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.^[27]

Wards

The wards of the borough are:^[27]

• Brookmans Park & Little Heath
• Haldens
• Handside
• Hatfield Central
• Hatfield East
• Hatfield South West
• Hatfield Villages
• Hollybush
• Howlands
• Northaw and Cuffley
• Panshanger
• Peartree
• Sherrards
• Welham Green and Hatfield South
• Welwyn East
• Welwyn West

Wider politics

Most of Welwyn Hatfield borough is within Welwyn Hatfield parliamentary constituency, whose current MP for Welwyn Hatfield is Andrew Lewin of the Labour Party. The constituency's boundaries differ from the borough only by the single ward of Northaw and Cuffley being within the borough, but in the parliamentary constituency of Hertsmere, whose current MP is Oliver Dowden of the Conservative Party.

Arms

Coat of arms of Welwyn Hatfield

Notes Granted 11 February 1976 [28] Crest On a Wreath of the Colours within a Circlet of eight Roses Gules each charged with another Argent barbed and seeded proper a Garb Or between two Wings displayed Azure. Escutcheon Or a Fess wavy between in chief a Bar wavy Azure surmounted of two Willow Trees couped and in base an Oak Tree couped fructed proper. Supporters On either side a Hart Royal proper that on the dexter charged on the shoulder with two Pairs of Dividers in fess inverted and extended the interior points contiguous Argent and that on the sinister with a representation of a Roman Wine Jar Or within a Cage Sable. Motto By Wisdom And Design Badge On a Bezant environed of a Torse Or and Azure two Pallets Azure surmounted of a Bar dancetty of two points downward counter-changed.