Three Rivers District Council

For the local council of the Boy Scouts of America, see Three Rivers Council (Texas).

Three Rivers District Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district council of the Three Rivers District
Leadership
Kemal Butt	Councillor Chris Whately-Smith, Liberal Democrats
Leader of the Council	Councillor Ann Shaw OBE, Liberal Democrats
Conservative Group Leader	Councillor Chris Hayward, Conservative
Labour Group Leader	Councillor Stephen King, Labour
Structure
Seats	48
Committees	Link to Council Meetings
Elections
Voting system	Plurality voting system
Last election	5 May 2011
Meeting place
Three Rivers House, Northway, Rickmansworth, WD3 1RL
Website
http://www.threerivers.gov.uk

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 48 elected members, representing twenty electoral wards. Half of the wards elect two councillors each. Nine, denoted below, elect three councillors each. One (Sarratt) elects one.

The Council is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, who hold 23, of the 48 seats. The Conservatives form the second-largest faction, with 13, of the seats followed by Labour with 3 seats

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:

Party		Councillors	Change
	Liberal Democrat	28	-1
	Conservative	14	0
	Labour	6	+2
	English Democrats	0	-1
Total		48	-
Source: [Three Rivers District Council http://www.threerivers.gov.uk/Default.aspx/Web/LocalElections]

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:

Seat	Councillor	Party
Abbots Langley	Sara Bedford		Liberal Democrat
Chorleywood	Chris Hayward		Conservative
Croxley	Steve Drury		Liberal Democrat
Oxhey Park	Frances Button		Conservative
Rickmansworth	Ralph Sangster		Conservative
South Oxhey	Joan King		Labour

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.

Seat	Wards	MP	Party
St Albans	Bedmond and Primrose Hill (part)	Anne Main		Conservative
South West Hertfordshire	Ashridge, Chorleywood East, Chorleywood West, Croxley Green, Croxley Green North, Croxley Green South, Hayling, Maple Cross and Mill End, Moor Park and Eastbury, Northwick, Penn, Rickmansworth, Rickmansworth West, Sarratt	David Gauke		Conservative
Watford	Abbots Langley, Bedmond and Primrose Hill (part), Carpenders Park, Langleybury, Leavesden, Oxhey Hall	Richard Harrington		Conservative
Source: Boundary Commission for England

Wards

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

Abbots Langley* Ashridge Bedmond and Primrose Hill Carpenders Park* Chorleywood East

Chorleywood West* Croxley Green* Croxley Green North Croxley Green South Hayling

Langleybury* Leavesden* Maple Cross and Mill End* Moor Park and Eastbury* Northwick*

Oxhey Hall Penn Rickmansworth Rickmansworth West Sarratt†

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.

Ward	Councillors (by year of retirement)
	2011		2012		2014
Abbots Langley #FAA61A	Matthew Bedford #FAA61A	David Major #FAA61A	Sara Bedford
Ashridge #0087DC	Graham Denman #DCDCDC	Seamus Dunne	N/A
Bedmond and Primrose Hill #FAA61A	Richard Laval	N/A #FAA61A		Joy Mann
Carpenders Park #FAA61A	Pam Hames #FAA61A	Geoffrey Dunne #0087DC	Eric Bishop
Chorleywood East	N/A #0087DC		Chris Hayward #0087DC	Guy Davis
Chorleywood West #FAA61A	Barbara Green #FAA61A	Harry Davies #FAA61A	Martin Trevett
Croxley Green #FAA61A	Dr Leighton Dann #FAA61A	Brian Norman #FAA61A	Roger Seabourne
Croxley Green North #FAA61A	Chris Lloyd	N/A #FAA61A		Steve Drury
Croxley Green South #FAA61A	Phil Brading	N/A #FAA61A		Brian White
Hayling #E4003B	Phil Redshaw #E4003B	Kerron Cross	N/A
Langleybury #FAA61A	Paul Goggins #FAA61A	Chris Whately-Smith #FAA61A	Chris Ayrton
Leavesden #FAA61A	Stephen Giles-Medhurst #FAA61A	Sue Bartrick #FAA61A	Kate Turner
Maple Cross and Mill End #FAA61A	Ann Shaw #FAA61A	Peter Wakeling #FAA61A	Chris Lucas
Moor Park and Eastbury #0087DC	Ralph Sangster #0087DC	Amrit Mediratta #0087DC	Kemal Butt
Northwick #E4003B	Ron Spellen #0087DC	Malcolm Butwick #0087DC	Ty Harris
Oxhey Hall #FAA61A	Peter Ray #FAA61A	Alison Scarth	N/A
Penn	N/A #FAA61A		Sarah Nelmes #FAA61A	Les Mead
Rickmansworth	N/A #0087DC		Paula Hiscocks #0087DC	David Sansom
Rickmansworth West	N/A #0087DC		Russell Smith #0087DC	Barbara Lamb
Sarratt #0087DC	Tony Barton	N/A		N/A
Source: Three Rivers District Council

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

Year	Control
1973		No overall control
1976		Conservative
1986		No overall control
1987		SDP–Liberal Alliance
1988		Liberal Democrat
1990		No overall control
1999		Liberal Democrat
2011		Liberal Democrat

See also

• Three Rivers local elections

External links

• Three Rivers District Council official website