Three Rivers District Council

Coordinates: 51°38′20″N 0°28′08″W / 51.639°N 0.469°W / 51.639; -0.469

Three Rivers District Council is the local authority for the Three Rivers non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. Three Rivers is located in the south-west of Hertfordshire, in the East of England region. The Council itself is based in Rickmansworth, the largest settlement in the district, but also comprises Abbots Langley, Chorleywood, Croxley Green, Maple Cross, Mill End, Sarratt and South Oxhey.

The Council consists of 39 elected members, representing thirteen electoral wards following a Boundary Commission review which came into effect on 22 May 2014. Each ward returns three councillors. Previously, there were 48 seats: half of the wards elected two councillors each. Nine elected three councillors each. One (Sarratt) elected one.

The Council is led by the Liberal Democrats, who hold 19, of the 39 seats. The Conservatives form the second-largest faction, with 17, of the seats followed by Labour with 3 seats ^[1]

Composition

District council

Three Rivers is a non-metropolitan district that elects one-third of its councillors at any one time: three times every four years, with the fourth for elections to Hertfordshire County Council). In the 2011 elections, the council remained under Liberal Democrat control, having been first won by the Lib Dems from no overall control in 1999. The District has also remained Lib Dem-run in 2014.

As of the 2012 elections, the composition of the council was:

The local elections in 2014 returned a council with a make up as follows

Liberal Democrats 23 Conservative 12 Labour 3

giving the Liberal Democrats a majority of 8 over the opposition.

County council

For elections to Hertfordshire County Council, the district is divided into six divisions, three of which are held by the Conservatives, two by the Liberal Democrats, and one by the Labour Party:

Parliament

For parliamentary elections, the district is divided across three constituencies. Most of the district is within the South West Hertfordshire constituency, which is considered a safe Conservative seat and held by a Conservative MP (now David Gauke) since its creation in 1950. The eastern parts of the constituency, to the north and south of Watford, are part of that borough's constituency, which is a three-way marginal held by Conservative Richard Harrington, having fluctuated between Labour and the Conservatives. Most of the north-eastern ward of Bedmond and Primrose Hill is in the St Albans constituency, which is held by the Conservative Anne Main.

Wards

Three Rivers consists of twenty wards. Wards electing three members are denoted with asterisks (*). Sarratt, denoted with an obelisk (†), elects one member.

Councillors

Three Rivers District Council is composed of 48 councillors elected from the 20 wards. As only half of wards elect three councillors, not all wards elect in any one given year; at any one annual election, one-third (16) are elected, not counting the necessity of by-elections.

Councillors are divided into classes depending on the year of their retirement. Usually, this will be four years after their election. However, if a ward elects two members at a given election (because of a by-election being held at the same time as a normal election), the councillor with the most votes receives the later of the two available retirement dates.

Council history

About the Council

Three Rivers District Council was established in 1974 by combining the former Urban Districts of Rickmansworth and Chorleywood with part of the Rural District of Watford.

The main offices are located in Rickmansworth in Three Rivers House, opened in 1991.

Link to Council Office details

Overall control of Three Rivers District Council

See also

• Three Rivers local elections

External links

• Three Rivers District Council official website

References