Councillor Jeremy Newmark, who will head up a Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition, has set out his priorities for his premiership.
The Borehamwood Cowley Hill councillor spoke at the Hertsmere Annual Council on Wednesday, May 17, where the borough elected its new leaders.
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Second to Cllr Newmark as leader, Cllr Paul Richards, Liberal Democrat councillor representing Bushey North, has been confirmed as deputy leader of the council.
Potters Bar Furzefield councillor Chris Myers (Lab) has been confirmed as Mayor, which means his partner Christian Gray, a Labour councillor representing the same ward, has become the Mayor’s Consort.
Former authority leader and Elstree councillor Morris Bright remains leader of the borough’s Conservative Group.
The changes follow a full council election on Thursday, May 4.
The Conservative Party remains the largest in Hertsmere with 16 out of 39 seats.
Labour has 14 seats, up from seven previously, while the Liberal Democrats took nine seats in Bushey, up from three.
No party met the 20-seat majority threshold, which means the authority is in “No Overall Control”.
Cllr Newmark said: “I want to thank everybody who has been part of this journey to get us to this place – to my wonderful team of our expanded Labour Group, to all of our friends in Labour across Hertsmere, across the town and across the county.”
He added: “Friends, we meet this evening at the start of a new municipal year and a new electoral cycle.
“If there’s one thing we can probably all agree upon … is that what elections like that which bring change teach us, is the awesome and humbling power of our democratic system to deliver change, peaceful change, whether it’s change that we support or not.
“This time, the winds of change blew in this general direction – a new direction, a progressive direction, a change which we told you was coming.
“So, no more inertia, no more ‘cut and paste’ policies, and that starts tonight, it starts now.”
Cllr Newmark added his cabinet will reflect the “political plurality which voters asked for”.
He said: “The single biggest challenge facing people right now is the impact of the cost of living crisis on local people.
“The average family in this borough has seen the price of their weekly food shop raised by £700 per year, a total hit to families across of £31.6million.
“That, my friends, is the challenge we face.”
Cllr Newmark promised to work towards “cutting cost of living, crime and NHS waiting lists”, and said public health and the environment will be combined into a single portfolio – led by deputy leader Cllr Richards – in “proper recognition that the primary challenge to our collective wellbeing now stems from environmental factors”.
He said: “It’s no secret I ran an opposition of insurgency.
“And just because we’re now in power, that insurgency won’t end because we’re not here to represent the council to the people.
“We’re here to represent the people to the council.”
Cllr Newmark was confirmed leader after a vote, and Cllr Myers’ appointment as Mayor was agreed unopposed after the Conservatives’ nominee, Labour councillor Richard Butler, withdrew from the contest.