County Hertfordshire Major settlements Borehamwood European Parliament constituency East of England Major settlement Borehamwood | Electorate 70,772 (December 2010) Created 1983 Member of parliament Oliver Dowden Number of members 1 | |
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Created from South Hertfordshire and South West Hertfordshire Replaced by South Hertfordshire, South West Hertfordshire | ||
Hertsmere is a constituency identical with the area of the Hertsmere Borough of Hertfordshire in England represented since 2015 in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Oliver Dowden of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Boundaries and composition
1983-1997: The Borough of Hertsmere, and the City of St Albans ward of London Colney.
1997-present: The Borough of Hertsmere.
Since 1997 the constituency is coterminous with the borough of Hertsmere, in southern Hertfordshire (before then it had also included one electoral ward from the City of St Albans district). Hertsmere consists of the major towns and villages of Bushey, Radlett, Potters Bar and Borehamwood, elevated settlements above the headwaters of the River Colne which forms much of the northern border. Bushey borders Watford and the London Borough of Harrow to the west and south west, while Potters Bar borders Barnet and Broxbourne on the east. Borehamwood is just south-east of the centre, the largest town in the constituency — in the north and centre is Radlett, separated by two large villages and farms from St Albans to the north.
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Hertfordshire, the Boundary Commission recommended no changes to constituency boundaries for the 2010 general election. The seat has electoral wards:
Constituency profile
Just beyond the boundaries of Greater London and with fast railway lines into the capital, Hertsmere is an archetypal middle-class, mixed economy, Home Counties district with many commuters to London, considered by most to be well within the London Commuter Belt.
The Aldenham East ward, assessed as the least deprived of 8414 wards in England in IMD2000 of the year 2000, is in the constituency. A minority of wards of Borehamwood have Labour councillors and the seat has proven to date to be a Conservative safe seat. A close result for second place occurred 2010 with only 661 votes separating the Labour and the Liberal Democrat candidate.
Members of Parliament
This safe Conservative constituency was created in 1983 from the former seat of South Hertfordshire. The former Cabinet minister Cecil Parkinson, who previously represented South Hertfordshire, was the MP from the seat's creation until his retirement in 1992. James Clappison held the seat from 1992 until his decision to stand down from parliament at the 2015 General Election. The seat was subsequently won by Oliver Dowden.