North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) provides a huge range
of services to residents, from recycling to street cleaning and
maintaining parks and gardens, to licensing activities and events
from pop concerts to casinos, issuing bus passes, running leisure
centres and swimming pools, providing public toilets, helping with
benefits, deciding on planning applications, and so on. The list
of telephone contacts on pages 54 and 55 gives an idea of these
and other services provided by NHDC.
NHDC works in partnership with other public sector organisations
such as the police, the local health service, North Herts College,
North Herts Homes and other housing associations, voluntary organisations
such as Citizens Advice and other not-for-profit bodies. Together
they are known as the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) which has
as its vision “Making North Herts a vibrant place to live,
work and prosper.”
Within that vision, NHDC has six strategic objectives, to build
communities that are safer, satisfied, sustainable, healthy, equal
and prosperous. Every two years it conducts a survey to test that
these objectives are still in accord with residents’ wishes
and allocates resources where residents say they want them to go.
Currently the Council is focusing on three priorities - town centres,
sustainable development and green issues. These reflect the changing
nature of our town centres with altered shopping habits, the long
term pressure for more housing, and the concern which we all share
for the environment.
Services
A wide range of information about the Council and its services can
be found on its website www.north-herts.gov.uk. Phone numbers for
individual departments are listed on pages 54-55 of this booklet.
If you cannot find what you want, the main Customer Service Centre
telephone number is 01462 474000
Finances
NHDC collects the Council Tax from residents on behalf of Hertfordshire
County Council and the police. About three quarters of this goes
to Hertfordshire County Council which provides services including
schools, adult and childrens’ social services, highways and
fire cover. About 16% of council tax is kept by NHDC and the rest
goes to the police and parish councils.
NHDC also gets money from central government, either to cover its
statutory duties or from special funds for specific projects. Some
money comes from grant making organisations such as the Heritage
Lottery Fund and some from fees and charges for its services, such
as income from swimming pools.
How the Council works
NHDC is made up of elected councillors, who decide on policy, and
paid officers, who put the policy into effect and run the services
day to day.
Councillors
North Herts District Council has 49 councillors representing 24
wards. Following the elections of May 2008, the political make-up
of the council is:
Conservative 32
Liberal Democrat 9
Labour 8
NHDC councillors serve for four years. One third are elected at
a time, with District Council elections held three years out of
four, in early May. There is also an election in the fourth year,
to vote for the nine councillors who represent the North Hertfordshire
area at Herts County Council.
NHDC administers all elections in the district, including parish,
national and European elections and compiles the electoral roll
each year. If you are not on the roll you cannot vote. Every household
is contacted each year and asked to confirm their details for the
electoral roll.
The majority party appoints a leader, deputy leader and seven Portfolio
Holders to run different departments. They form the Cabinet which
meets six times a year. Their decisions are then considered at full
council meetings where every councillor can vote.
The Portfolio Holders cover:
• Finance
• Community Engagement and Rural Affairs
• Leisure & E-Government
• Housing and Environmental Health
• Waste Recycling and Environment
• Policy and Green Issues
• Planning and Transport
North Herts is divided into five areas which all hold regular meetings
of their councillors to discuss local issues. They are:
• Hitchin
• Letchworth
• Baldock
• Royston
• Southern Rural
Councillors serve on other committees. The main ones are:
Planning - Decides planning permission for specific sites.
Performance Audit and Review Committee (PARC) monitors and reviews
council policy and services, helping to plan for the future.
Scrutiny - It looks at how the council delivers its services.
Licensing and Appeals - Decides licence applications.
As well as these duties, many councillors serve on other bodies
such as highway liaison, housing organisations, the Letchworth Garden
City Heritage Foundation and dozens of voluntary groups catering
for a wide range of interests and charitable causes throughout our
communities.
How the Council is managed
The day to day work of the Council is carried out by about 420 full
and part-time staff, headed by a Chief Executive and two Strategic
Directors, for Customer Services and for Financial and Regulatory
Services.
Between them, they are in charge of the following service areas:
Finance and accountancy
Revenues and benefits
Planning and building control
Housing and environmental health
Management Support
Legal and democratic services
Policy, partnerships and performance
Strategy and support services
Community development and culture
Environmental services
Human resources
Information technology and transformation
The Council gives many thousands of pounds in grants each year to
local organisations. If your organisation needs assistance with
any project it may be worth asking the council if it can help. Ring
01462 474000 and ask for the Community Development team.
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