Borough of Dartford

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Dartford Borough of Dartford
Borough & Non-metropolitan district
Aerial of Dartford and the Dartford Crossing over the River Thames
Dartford shown within Kent
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	Kent
Status	Non-metropolitan district, Borough
Admin HQ	Dartford
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Dartford Borough Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
• MPs	Gareth Johnson
Area
• Total	28.10 sq mi (72.77 km2)
• Rank	227th (of 296)
Population  (2021)
• Total	116,777
• Rank	205th (of 296)
• Density	4,200/sq mi (1,600/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 74.5% White 10.5% Black 9.9% Asian 3.1% Mixed 2% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 48.1% Christianity 36.5% no religion 5.3% not stated 3.8% Hinduism 3.5% Islam 1.7% Sikhism 0.6% Buddhism 0.4% other 0.1% Judaism
UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	29UD (ONS) E07000107 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ538739
Website	www.dartford.gov.uk

The Borough of Dartford is a

.

Government

Dartford Borough Council
Head of Paid Service		Sarah Martin
Structure
Seats	42 councillors
Political groups	Administration (29)   Conservative (29) Other parties (13)   Labour (11)   Residents Association (1)   Green (1)
Elections
First past the post
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Civic Centre, Home Gardens, Dartford, DA1 1DR
Website
www.dartford.gov.uk

Since 2010, the Dartford constituency's Member of Parliament (MP) is Gareth Johnson (Conservative) who replaced the outgoing Howard Stoate (Labour).

The leader of the council, from February 2006, is Councillor Jeremy Kite (Conservative). Councillors represent the following seventeen wards as of 2018:^[2]

• Bean and Village Park
• Brent
• Bridge
• Burnham
• Darenth
• Ebbsfleet
• Greenhithe and Knockhall
• Heath
• Joydens Wood
• Longfield, New Barn and Southfleet
• Maypole and Leyton Cross
• Newtown
• Princes
• Stone Castle
• Stone House
• Swanscombe
• Temple Hill
• Town
• West Hill
• Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley

NB the boundaries of these wards do not necessarily coincide with the parish boundaries.

Political control

As of May 2019, the council is made up as follows:^[3]

Party		Councillors
	Conservative Party	29
	Labour Party	10
	Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association	3

The following

are also included in the borough:

• Bean
• Darenth
• Longfield and New Barn
• Southfleet
• Stone
• Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley
• Swanscombe and Greenhithe
• Wilmington

In addition to the

to the south-west of the town.

Dartford Youth Council

Dartford also has a youth council called the Dartford Youth Council (DYC) which comprises members of the youth representing local secondary schools, youth groups (such as Scouts).^[4] They discuss important issues relating to the youth of Dartford, such as mental health, to staying fit and how they can help and combat those issues. They attend a monthly meeting, at the Dartford Civic Centre. They have represented Dartford's youth in several events.^[5] Every November, members attend and represent Dartford Youth Council in the annual Dartford Remembrance Parade.^[5]

Communications in the borough

Railways

There are seven railway stations in the borough: at

and eastern Kent. For many services Dartford is the terminus.

and other stations in Kent.

Notable bus service

The first of the

Gravesend

.

Roads

Three of the county's main roads pass through the borough boundaries: the

roads also cross the borough, among others.

Dartford gives its name to the

.

Housing and architecture

The layout of the district is clustered development in the northern half and buffered, dispersed settlement interspersed by the North Downs which is an escarpment of varied farms and woodland in the south.

• The M25 motorway bisects the district
• Swanscombe and Greenhithe have
  mid rise
  by the river Thames.

Housing is a mixture of relatively

in all of the villages.

The number of

in the district exceeds 50. This includes 7 churches listed in the highest grading in the national listing system (Grade I).

Demography

2011 census

The population rose in the 10 years to 2011 from 85,911 to 97,365, by 13.3%, which was above the national average.

87.3% of residents were born in England, which was 2.5% higher than the average for the South East. The next most common group of countries of birth was the non-EU, however this was 0.3% lower than the average for the South-East and 2% lower than the average for England.

As to residents of EU birth, only 3.3% of the population were such, slightly below the national average and two-thirds of this migration was from the accession countries from 2001 to 2011, a 12.5% higher proportion than that seen nationwide.

As to older people, the borough has a below national and regional proportion. In common with most of the country, an increase in people living in their area above the age of 74 took place, whether through change in preference or most commonly longevity, from 6.5% in 2001 to 7.1% in 2011.

With 80.8% of households with a car or van, this was 6.6% above the national average, however still marginally lower than South East's record and national-high of 81.4%.

1.0% of the population lived in a communal establishment in the area.

As to homes, as 12.6% of properties in the area are detached, these form a smaller minority than the regional and national averages (at 28.0% and 22.3% of dwellings respectively).

Its people in 2011 were more economically active than the regional and national average; while self-employed inhabitants were at parity with the national average, those in full-time employment were 6.0% greater.

As to religion, statistics mirrored closely the national average, save that more Hindus and Sikhs live in the borough, at a combined, equally split 3.2% of the total population and fewer Muslims, also forming 1.6% of the population. Being almost at the mean for the country, Christians form just over 60% of the area's population.^[6]

2021 census

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2024)

Employment

Although many of area's traditional industries of papermaking, cement, and pharmaceuticals are in decline or closing down, and many of borough's inhabitants travel away from the borough by rail and road (many commuting to London and other areas for work), there is still a large industrial and commercial base. Included among those areas include 'The Bridge' and Crossways to either side of the

, itself a large employer.

In October 2012 Dartford and Gravesham councils co-announced plans for a

major theme park

to be built on the Swanscombe peninsula, which would create up to 27,000 jobs by 2018.

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Dartford (borough)
• Grade II* listed buildings in Dartford (borough)

References

External links

• The borough website
• The Mayor of Dartford's website
• Visit Swanscombe Town Guide