Leader's Monthly Update - January 2025

Welcome (back) to my monthly update. I wish you and your loved ones a prosperous, healthy and fulfilling 2025.

Following the publication of the National Government’s Devolution White Paper in December, and subsequent statements by the leader of Hertfordshire County Council, the 10 district and borough councils in Hertfordshire, including Dacorum, made it clear that we do not support the creation of one unitary council for Hertfordshire. 

This Council will continue with business as usual and remain focused first on delivering the important services that make a real difference to our communities. One such function is the legal requirement to set a balanced budget which works for our borough.

We are working hard to balance the budget for 2025/26 and we need your input into the main spending priorities for the Council’s limited budget. You can participate at Budget 2025/26 | Let's Talk Dacorum. There are standard questions for structure, but you can also comment in your own words as you see fit – we welcome your comments.

Dacorum Borough Council needs to save £2.6 million over the next few years while maintaining essential services.   To ensure we can continue to support our residents including the most vulnerable residents, we have to make difficult decisions around money and how we provide our services in the future. We will continue to drive value for money for our residents, with the average household (band D) paying around £5 a week for Dacorum Borough Council services.

Dacorum Borough Council provides the following services (this is not an exhaustive list but the key customer facing council services):

• Waste Collection (general and food waste, recycling)
• Maintaining parks and playgrounds (62 play areas and 6 Green Flag parks)
• Street cleaning
• Environmental Health like pest control, food inspection and anti-social behaviour
• Licensing
• Funding for Voluntary and Community Groups
• Planning Services including the Local Plan, planning permission and enforcement
• Parking Services - providing on and off-street parking
• Garages
• Housing Advice and Benefits including homelessness services, providing those in housing need and processing housing benefits, council tax support and discretionary housing payments
• Economic Development and town centre regeneration
• Support to local businesses
• Adventure Playgrounds
• Leisure Services
• Arts venue - The Old Town Hall
• Cemeteries and a Crematorium
• In addition, Dacorum Borough Council also provides Council Housing, which by law is separately funded fully by housing rents and charges

Engagement with our residents and local communities is important to help shape our services and influence the work we do across the borough.  We have a dedicated community engagement platform (Let's Talk Dacorum) where you can find all our consultations and engagement opportunities.

Dealing now with the important prospect of Local Government reorganisation: Our county is diverse and made up of over 1.2 million residents. Any reform of local government in Hertfordshire should follow a period of proper consultation with residents, businesses, elected representatives and stakeholders. Looking at the evidence, we should decide collectively what is best for our areas. 

We did not support the mooted postponing the county council elections scheduled for May 2025. The government has indicated that this will only happen in priority areas who have clear and agreed plans. This is not the case in Hertfordshire, so we cannot be in the first phase of these reforms.

We recognise that the government’s white paper sets a clear direction of travel. As Hertfordshire’s district and borough council leaders, we want to work collaboratively with others to agree how we respond to this. I have raised the issue of local connection into decisions, in areas which do not have Parish or Town Councils to advocate for them.

Our objective must be to get this right for our residents and businesses rather than to make rushed decisions that have not been given the serious consideration they deserve.

The leader of Hertfordshire County Council has now ruled out making a fast-track bid to reorganise local government in Hertfordshire. It means Hertfordshire County Council will not submit an application ahead of the government's 10 January 2025 devolution deadline and May's local elections will go ahead as planned.

I have touched here on the difficult choices on budget – spending and income – and on the difficult choices we are asked to consider for how our communities are organised.

To stay up to date about all the news and information from the Council please visit www.dacorum.gov.uk or sign up to our weekly newsletter (Dacorum Life Newsletter Sign Up - Dacorum Borough Council) to get news and information direct to your inbox.

I look forward to working with you in 2025 to make Dacorum a great place to live, work and enjoy.

Councillor Adrian England
Leader of the Council