Dacorum

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For other uses, see Dacorum (disambiguation).

Dacorum
Shown within Hertfordshire
Geography
Status:	Borough Non-metropolitan district
Region:	East of England
Admin. County:	Hertfordshire
Area: - Total	Ranked 183rd 212.48 km²
Admin. HQ:	Hemel Hempstead
ONS code:	26UC
Demographics
Population: - Total (2006 est.) - Density	Ranked 130th 138,400 651 / km²
Ethnicity:	93.1% White 3.2% South Asian 1.4% Black 1.5% Mixed
Politics
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Control:	Conservative
MPs:	David Gauke Mike Penning

Dacorum is a local government district and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, and Tring. It had a population of 137,799 at the 2001 census. The district is entirely parished, apart from Hemel Hempstead.

The District of Dacorum was formed in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 by the amalgamation of 7 smaller local authorities, each symbolised in the 7 oak leaves in the centre of the coat of arms. The district was granted borough status in 1984. Hemel Hempstead had maintained Charter Trustees from 1974 to 1984.

The five major components were the municipal borough of Hemel Hempstead, the urban districts of Berkhamsted and Tring, the rural districts of Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead. Also, those parts of the rural districts of St Albans and Watford which were within the designated area of Hemel Hempstead new town were included. The constituent towns and villages of the borough are: Aldbury, Bovingdon, Berkhamsted, Bourne End, Bulbourne, Chipperfield, Cow Roast, Flamstead, Flaunden, Frithsden, Gaddesden Row, Great Gaddesden, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, Little Gaddesden, Little Tring, Long Marston, Markyate, Nettleden, New Mill, Northchurch, Potten End, Ringshall, Tring, Tringford, Water End, and Wigginton.

The borough takes its name from the old hundred of Dacorum which covered approximately the same area. The name of the hundred, first recorded in 1196, is simply the Latin for "of the Danes", since the hundred lies at the margin of the Danelaw, the southern boundary of which was formed by the River Lea. This hundred was a combination of the two Domesday Book hundreds of Tring and Danais.

The Borough is twinned with the town of Neu-Isenburg in Germany. Berkhamsted is twinned separately with Beaune (France) and Kings Langley with Baku (Ghana).

[edit] Political representation

The council is made up of 51 seats. The whole council is elected at four yearly intervals and the result of the May 2007 election was Conservative 44, Liberal Democrat 5 and Labour 2.