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Herefordshire Council
Herefordshire Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
Leadership
Chair	Roger Phillips, ; Conservative ; since 19 May 2023
Leader	Jonathan Lester, ; Conservative ; since 19 May 2023
Chief Executive	Paul Walker ; since May 2021
Structure
Seats	53 councillors
Political groups	Administration (21) Conservative (21) Other parties (32) Liberal Democrat (12) Green (9) Independent (8) It's our County (2) Labour (1)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
	Council Offices, Plough Lane, Hereford, HR4 0LE
Website
	www.herefordshire.gov.uk

Herefordshire Council is the local authority for the county of Herefordshire in England. It is a unitary authority, combining the powers of a district and county council.

History

Herefordshire was one of the historic counties of England. Elected county councils were created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions. Herefordshire County Council existed until 1974 when the county was merged with neighbouring Worcestershire to form a new county of Hereford and Worcester.^[5]

Hereford and Worcester was abolished and Herefordshire re-established as a county on 1 April 1998. Formally the area is both a non-metropolitan county called "Herefordshire" and a non-metropolitan district called "County of Herefordshire", and it has a district council that also performs the functions of a county council.^[6]^[7] The council's formal name is therefore "County of Herefordshire District Council",^[8] but it styles itself "Herefordshire Council".^[9] The council created in 1998 was granted the right to use the coat of arms of the earlier county council which had been abolished in 1974.^[10]

Governance

As a unitary authority, Herefordshire Council performs the functions of both a county council and a district council. The whole county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a lower tier of local government.

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since 2019. Following the 2023 election a minority Conservative administration took control of the council.^[11]

The first elections to the new Herefordshire Council were held in 1997, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1998.^[6] Political control of the council since 1998 has been as follows:^[12]

Party in control		Years
	Liberal Democrats	1998–2000
	No overall control	2000–2007
	Conservative	2007–2019
	No overall control	2019–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1998 have been:^[13]

Councillor		From	To
Terry James^[14]	Liberal Democrats	1 Apr 1998	23 May 2003
Roger Phillips	Conservative	23 May 2003	27 May 2011
John Jarvis	Conservative	27 May 2011	24 May 2013
Tony Johnson	Conservative	24 May 2013	9 Mar 2018
Jonathan Lester	Conservative	9 Mar 2018	24 May 2019
David Hitchiner	Independent	24 May 2019	19 May 2023
Jonathan Lester	Conservative	19 May 2023

Composition

Following the 2023 election and a subsequent by-election in October 2023, the composition of the council was:^[15]^[16]

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	21
	Liberal Democrats	12
	Green	9
	Independent	8
	It's our County	2
	Labour	1
Total		53

Of the eight independent councillors, four sit with local party It's our County as the "Independents for Herefordshire" group, three form the "True Independents" group, and the other does not belong to any group.^[17] The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Since the last full review of boundaries in 2015 Herefordshire has comprised 53 wards, each of which elects one councillor. Elections are held every four years.^[18]

Premises

The council has its headquarters at the Council Offices on Plough Lane in Hereford. The building was formerly the headquarters of H. P. Bulmer and was bought by the council in 2009 to use as offices.^[19] Council meetings also transferred there in 2022.^[20]

When the council was created in 1998 it had its headquarters at Brockington, 35 Hafod Road, Hereford. Brockington had been built as a house in 1909 before serving as the headquarters of Herefordshire Constabulary from 1946 and then as the offices of South Herefordshire District Council from 1977 until 1998, in which time it was substantially extended.^[21]

The council continued to meet at Brockington until 2014, after which it was sold and the site redeveloped.^[22]^[23] Office functions moved to other buildings the council owned, notably the former Bulmers offices on Plough Lane. Council meetings were generally held at the Shirehall in Hereford between 2014 and 2020, when the ceiling there collapsed.^[24] Following the resumption of in-person meetings following the COVID-19 pandemic a conference room for meetings was established at the Council Offices on Plough Lane, first used for a full council meeting in May 2022.^[20]

Outsourced services

Herefordshire Council has outsourced the following services:

Human Resources & Finance – outsourced to a limited company named "Hoople", which is wholly owned by the Council and Wye Valley NHS Trust
Leisure – Halo Leisure (A not-for-profit trust which operates all leisure services)
Social Housing – Herefordshire Housing (A not-for-profit trust which operates all housing and accommodation services)
Commercial Services – Amey Wye Valley Services (A commercial venture which maintains roads, grounds, street lighting, etc.)
Waste Management – Severn Waste Management (Responsible for bin collection, sorting and recycling)