Following our ‘all out’ elections in May, when all of our councillors were elected at the same time, changes to the council’s Cabinet were announced last night (23 May) at Annual Council.
With 25 Labour & Co-operative councillors, 19 Liberal Democrats and 7 Conservative, there is still no overall control of the council. The council will now be run as a Labour & Co-operative ‘minority administration’, this is when a party governs a council despite not having more than half of all councillors – in North Herts a party would need 26 councillors. This follows five years of a joint Labour & Co-operative and Liberal Democrat administration.
Following a recent district ward boundary review, we now have 51 councillors (previously 49), of whom 19 are new this year, and our councillors are now spread across 25 wards (previously 24).
Cllr Daniel Allen (Labour & Co-operative) is now Leader of North Herts Council, the Liberal Democrat Group Leader continues as Cllr Ruth Brown, and the Conservative Group Leader is now Cllr Ralph Muncer.
The post of Leader is usually elected by all members of the council after a local election which now takes place every four years in North Herts. The Leader chairs all meetings of the council’s Cabinet and leads on policy development.
The cabinet positions are now:
- Cllr Daniel Allen – Leader of the Council
- Cllr Chris Hinchliff – Executive Member for Planning & Transport
- Cllr Ian Albert – Executive Member for Finance & IT
- Cllr Val Bryant – Executive Member for Communities & Partnerships (and Deputy Leader)
- Cllr Tamsin Thomas – Executive Member for Enterprise & Arts
- Cllr Amy Allen – Executive Member for Recycling & Waste Management
- Cllr Mick Debenham – Executive Member for Environment, Leisure & Green Spaces
- Cllr Dave Winstanley – Executive Member for Housing & Environmental Health
In addition to the cabinet roles, the new Chair of the Council is Cllr Clare Billing and Vice-Chair is Cllr Tina Bhartwas. The Chair is also elected by all members of the council and is the civic leader of North Herts, who represents the council at a wide range of public events on a non-party political basis and supports charities of their choice throughout their term in office.
Cllr Daniel Allen, Leader of North Herts Council, said: “Being elected Leader of the Council is an honour and a responsibility that I take very seriously. As I step into this role, I promise to lead with openness, transparency, and a genuine commitment to the values and needs of our community. I would like to thank Cllr Elizabeth Dennis for her excellent work as Leader of the Council which has put us in this strong position going forward.”
More information about the composition of the council, who your local councillors are and council meetings: Your council
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