16 Jul 2026
Hertfordshire will be divided into four new unitary authorities as part of Local Government Reorganisation, and St Albans will be merged with Dacorum under the new structure.
The Government initiative will replace the current two-tier system of St Albans district council and Herts county council with unitary authorities by April 2028.
SADC’s preferred approach was for the county to be divided into West Herts (Dacorum, Hertsmere, St Albans, Three Rivers, Watford) and East Herts (Broxbourne, East Herts, North Herts, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield), but this was rejected in favour of four different authorities.
Local experts considered this to be the least likely option for the county, but ultimately the decision was outside their hands.
A new unitary authority of North West Hertfordshire will bring together the places currently served by Dacorum and SADC into a single council for the west of the county.
The new council will cover around 312,000 people – roughly the same size as a London borough – taking in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Harpenden, Berkhamsted and Tring, as well as the surrounding villages and countryside.
There will be 79 councillors representing 41 wards, with elections to a shadow council in May 2027 and the new authority going live in April 2028.
Mike Hobday, leader of the SADC Labour Group of councillors responded: “We are delighted at the Government’s decision to link St Albans and Dacorum Councils to form one of four new unitary councils in Hertfordshire.
“This is a long overdue change. At the moment, vital services are unnecessarily split between district and county councils. The district collects waste and tte county disposes of it. The district is responsible for parking, but the council owns the roads. The district provides housing for people in need, who get social care support provided by the county council. The new unitary councils will stop the frustrating confusion and buck-passing that inevitably takes place between the councils.
“Four unitaries is the right number for Hertfordshire. We need a council which is small enough to be local, but large enough to be efficient. Labour councillors supported this option as part of the debate at St Albans Council. And six out of 11 Hertfordshire councils supported this option.
“The merger of St Albans and Dacorum councils strikes the right balance. A larger unitary – such as one covering the whole of West Hertfordshire – would have felt very distant from local residents – just as the county council is now. The St Albans-Dacorum merger will provide a council that is aware of the aspirations and needs of local communities.
“The proposal will also save money – it will reduce the numbers of councillors and council managers. Hertfordshire will move from 11 senior management teams down to four. We will also see financial efficiencies as the merged councils start to work together.
“St Albans will benefit from the knowledge and expertise that Dacorum officers and transferred county council officers will bring – and likewise Dacorum will benefit from St Albans’ capabilities.
“It is important that Hertfordshire councils now work together to implement this decision. The priority must be making the new councils a success. That means councils working together from day one to design high-quality local services, while ensuring effective collaboration on county-wide issues such as special educational needs, homelessness and public health.
“We need urgent work to identify how the new councils will work. We need to identify those areas – such as special educational needs and homelessness – where continued collaboration between the councils is important.”
Green and Independents Group leader Cllr Simon Grover said: “I’m pleased that the proposals keep ward-based representation, which means councillors stay rooted in their local communities rather than representing vast areas that are impossible to serve well.
“But there are real challenges ahead. Hemel Garden Communities alone will bring 11,000 new homes to this part of Hertfordshire. The new council will need to manage significant growth while protecting the Chilterns, our chalk streams and the green spaces that make this area special.
“Residents need to know that their voices will be heard through this process. Green councillors will be making sure they are.”
SADC leader, Lib Dem Cllr Paul de Kort said: “By choosing to create four unitary councils in Hertfordshire rather than two, the Government has chosen to ignore its own guidance surrounding population size and boundary consistency.
“This presents great risk for residents, both for the provision of the wide range of essential services that local government around here tirelessly delivers and also for future increases in the council tax burden. I am particularly concerned about the ability of residents to continue to enjoy the high quality, discretionary provision, such as leisure and culture provision, CCTV protection and fly-tipping prevention, that this council currently offers.
“Rest assured we will work closely with Dacorum and Herts County Council to ensure that we make the best of what has been required of us, as all residents would expect and deserve.”
The decision was also not welcomed by HCC leader Cllr Steve Jarvis, who said: “When the Government began this process it said it was focused on devolution – transferring money and power from Westminster and Whitehall to communities across Hertfordshire and the rest of England.
“Unfortunately, they have since diverted most of their effort from devolution to a costly and disruptive reorganisation of councils. A reorganisation that nobody asked for and which will take many years to deliver any benefit for Hertfordshire’s people.
“Now, to make matters worse, they have chosen the most disruptive way in which this reorganisation could be done from the options submitted to them by splitting Hertfordshire into four.
“This means splitting the teams that deliver care for elderly and disabled people, the teams who support children with SEND and the teams who fix our roads into four making it more challenging and more expensive to deliver these vital services.
“This will do nothing to create more special school places or fix more potholes.
“It will cost the council taxpayers of Hertfordshire more and projections show that one of the new councils will running in deficit from the day it is created.
“It is enormously disappointing that the Government has decided to ignore this and select the worst option for Hertfordshire’s residents and communities.
“It is also disappointing that this announcement was silent on devolution for Hertfordshire which would bring the additional local powers and funding that are key to unlocking our county’s full potential.
“We are committed to getting the best solution for people in Hertfordshire so, whilst we will continue to work with other Hertfordshire councils to prepare for reorganisation and to make our case for a mayor as strongly as possible, we will explore ways in which we can challenge the Government’s decision to create four unitary councils.”
SADC Conservative group leader Cllr Matt Cowley said: “This re-organisation is entirely unnecessary and disruptive and will cost local residents lots of money. Our job is to reduce the disruption on them – that’s why I am campaigning to keep community assets owned by both councils in community hands, rather than handing them over to some distant new council. We’ve already made great strides, with cross party work to establish a new parish council in St Albans to ensure local people don’t lose their voice.
“Our local Conservative team will continue to speak up for residents as this process progresses.”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper responded: “This is a top-down reorganisation of local government that Hertfordshire does not need or want. It risks disrupting vital services for some of our most vulnerable residents and will move decision-making further away from St Albans.
“In recent years, the Liberal Democrat administrations at both SADC and HCC have made significant progress in repairing the damage left by years of Conservative mismanagement.
“We have protected valued local services, invested in community facilities, upgraded social housing and made real improvements to SEND services, including securing the lifting of the SEND improvement notice imposed on the previous Conservative failed administration.
“This reorganisation puts much of that progress at risk. Reorganising council boundaries without providing any additional powers or funding is simply reorganisation for its own sake. While some residents may welcome dealing with a single council rather than two, they will lose something equally if not more important: accessible, local decision-making and services that are rooted in their community.
“By abolishing St Albans district council and merging it with Dacorum to create a larger unitary authority, the Government is taking power further away from local people, not bringing it closer.
“Residents are likely to find it harder to access council services and to hold decision-makers accountable.
“There are also serious financial risks. Splitting Hertfordshire into four new councils without additional funding creates uncertainty about their long-term viability, raising the prospect that one or more authorities could face severe financial pressures from the outset. At the same time, vital services such as social care and support for children with special educational needs could face significant disruption during the transition.
“Our Liberal Democrat team at the district council has worked hard to respond to the priorities of local residents, protecting services such as leisure centres and CCTV while continuing to invest in community facilities. Many of these discretionary services could now be put at risk.
“This imposed reorganisation is a major distraction from the important work both of our Liberal Democrat-run councils are doing. As the local MP, I am determined to work with both councils to make the best of a bad situation, while continuing to campaign for genuine devolution that brings real powers and real resources closer to our communities. I hope the new PM will be listening.”
Harpenden MP Victoria Collins added: “What our communities need is more power and resources closer to them, not further away.
“This reorganisation of local government is another step of this Labour Government taking influence away from local communities at a time when they need it most.
“Whether it comes to planning, infrastructure and services our councillors are working hard in difficult circumstances and this is another pull on resources.
“I know during this transition they’ll do all they can for local residents. I’ll keep fighting in Parliament to get them the support they need for our communities.”
