Harlow District Council

Harlow District Council is the local authority for Harlow in Essex, England. Harlow is a non-metropolitan district, covering just the town of Harlow itself. The council generally styles itself Harlow Council.

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2021. It is based at Harlow Civic Centre.

The neighbouring districts are Epping Forest District and East Hertfordshire.

History
Harlow was designated a new town on 25 March 1947. The area for the new town was within the Epping Rural District at the time it was designated, and broadly covered the parishes of Harlow, Latton, Netteswell, Great Parndon, and Little Parndon. As work on the new town got underway the smaller parishes were abolished in stages. On 1 April 1949 Latton was absorbed into Harlow parish and Little Parndon was absorbed into Netteswell parish. On 1 April 1955, the three remaining parishes of Harlow, Great Parndon and Netteswell were merged into a single parish called Harlow, with some adjustments to the boundaries with neighbouring parishes of Epping Upland, Matching, North Weald Bassett, Roydon and Sheering, to bring the development area into a single parish. On the same date the enlarged Harlow parish was made an urban district, making it independent from Epping Rural District.

Urban districts were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. A new non-metropolitan district called Harlow was created covering the same area as the former Harlow Urban District.

Governance
Harlow Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Essex County Council. There are no civil parishes in Harlow; the entire district is an unparished area.

Political control
The council has been under Conservative control since the 2021 election.

The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:

Leadership
The leaders of the council since 2008 have been:

Composition
Following the 2024 election, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in May 2026.

Premises
The council was initially based at the Town Hall, a tower block on The High in the town centre, which had been completed in 1960 for the old Harlow Urban District Council. In 2004 the council moved to Harlow Civic Centre as part of a wider retail development around the town's Water Gardens. The new building was formally opened in May 2004 by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The old Town Hall was demolished shortly afterwards.

Elections
Since the last boundary changes in 2024, 33 councillors have been elected from 11 wards. Elections are held three years out of every four for a third of the council at a time. Election to Essex County Council are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no district council elections.