East Hertfordshire

East Hertfordshire District
—  Non-metropolitan district  —
East Hertfordshire shown within Hertfordshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Non-metropolitan county	Hertfordshire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Bishop's Stortford, Hertford
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
– Type	Non-metropolitan district council
– Body	East Herts Council
– Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
– MPs	Oliver Heald Stephen McPartland Mark Prisk
Area
– Total	70.9 sq mi (183.7 km2)
Area rank	95th (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
– Total	138,500
– Rank	145th (of 326)
– Density	1,952.7/sq mi (753.9/km2)
– Ethnicity	94.7% White 1.8% S.Asian 1.2% Black 1.3% Mixed Race 1.1% Chinese or Other
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
– Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
ONS code	26UD
OS grid reference	TL3758624322
Website	eastherts.gov.uk

East Hertfordshire is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council has offices in Bishop's Stortford and Hertford (Hertfordshire's traditional county town).

The other main towns in the district are Ware (on the River Lea), Buntingford (on the River Rib), and Sawbridgeworth (on the River Stort). Of these five major towns, all except Buntingford fall within the parliamentary constituency of Hertford and Stortford. Buntingford is part of the North East Hertfordshire constituency.

East Herts, as its council is officially known, is bordered by North Hertfordshire, Stevenage, Welwyn Hatfield, and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, and by Epping Forest, Harlow, and Uttlesford in Essex.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the municipal borough of Hertford with Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and Ware urban districts, and Braughing Rural District, Ware Rural District and part of Hertford Rural District. By area it is the largest of the ten local government districts in Hertfordshire.

In the 2006 edition of the Channel 4 "Best and Worst Places to Live in the UK", East Hertfordshire was rated the seventh best district to live in.

Transport

The district contains only one motorway - a small stretch of the M11 at Bishop's Stortford. The major roads within the district include:

A414 - running West-East from Welwyn to Harlow, through Hertford, where it forms the Hertford by-pass.

A10 - running North-South from Broxbourne towards Cambridge.

A602 - running South East to North West, connecting Ware with Stevenage.

A120 - running West-East connecting the A10 at Standon with the M11 at Bishop's Stortford.

None of the above roads are classified as trunk roads. Therefore they are maintained by Hertfordshire County Council while responsibility for the M11 rests with the Highways Agency.

Stansted Airport is just beyond the edge of the district near Bishop's Stortford, but officially sits within Uttlesford district in neighbouring Essex. Many of the district's towns have rail services into London at King's Cross, Moorgate, and Liverpool Street.

Employment

The district's biggest employer is the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which has a research and maufacturing centre in Ware.^[1] The company also has large offices in neighbouring Stevenage and Harlow.

Parishes

The district is entirely parished. See List of civil parishes in Hertfordshire.

Footnotes

1. ^ East Herts District Council, checked on 1 November 2009.

Coordinates: 51°54′N 00°00′W / 51.9°N 0°E / 51.9; 0