Middlesbrough Borough Council is the local authority of
MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
. It is a
unitary authorityA unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
and
boroughBorough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
in
North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is based on the town of
MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
, which is sometimes considered to spread outside the borough boundaries into the neighbouring borough of
Redcar and ClevelandThe borough of Redcar & Cleveland is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England consisting of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Guisborough, and small towns such as Brotton, Eston, Skelton and Loftus. It had a resident population of 139,132 in 2001, and is part of the Tees...
; the borough extends southwards to a semi-rural area. Whilst part of North Yorkshire for
ceremonial purposesThe ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
it is in the
regionIn England, the region is the highest tier of sub-national division used by central Government. Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies...
of
North East EnglandNorth East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...
. It had a resident population in 2001 of 134,855. A 2006 mid-year estimate suggests the Borough to have a population of 138,400. The borough council is one of the districts bidding to achieve city status in 2012, to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
History
The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, from part of the former
County Borough of TeessideTeesside was, from 1968 to 1974, a local government district in northern England. It comprised a conurbation that spanned both sides of the River Tees from which it took its name...
, along with the parish of
NunthorpeNunthorpe is a small outer suburb of the town of Middlesbrough, England. Nunthorpe is served by Nunthorpe and Gypsy Lane railway stations, both of which are on the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby...
from the
Stokesley Rural DistrictStokesley was a rural district in the North Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after the town of Stokesley, which it contained....
. It was a district, and the county town of the new county of
ClevelandCleveland is an area in the north east of England. Its name means literally "cliff-land", referring to its hilly southern areas, which rise to nearly...
from 1 April 1974, until 1996, when Cleveland was abolished under the Banham Review, and Middlesbrough became a unitary authority. The borough borders
Stockton-on-TeesStockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority area and borough in the Tees Valley area of north east England, with a population in 2001 of 178,408, rising to 185,880 in 2005 estimates....
to the west,
Redcar and ClevelandThe borough of Redcar & Cleveland is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England consisting of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Guisborough, and small towns such as Brotton, Eston, Skelton and Loftus. It had a resident population of 139,132 in 2001, and is part of the Tees...
to the east and the
HambletonHambleton is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. The main town and administrative centre is Northallerton, and includes the market towns and major villages of Bedale, Thirsk, Great Ayton, Stokesley and Easingwold....
district of North Yorkshire to the south.
Mayor
Unlike most English districts, its council is led by a
directly-elected mayorDirectly elected mayors are council leaders elected by the general electorate of a council area for local government, instead of being appointed by members of a local authority, which is common in the United Kingdom. The Elected Mayor is elected from a number of candidates who put themselves up for...
, currently
Ray MallonRay Mallon is the directly elected Mayor of Middlesbrough.-Early life:Ray Mallon was raised in Thornaby-on-Tees, Yorkshire, a working-class town near Middlesbrough and Stockton-On-Tees, the only child of Joe and Pauline Mallon...
. Mr. Mallon was previously a senior officer in
Cleveland PoliceCleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the area of former county of Cleveland in north east England. The Cleveland Police area covers approximately and has a population of over 554,000....
, and was noted for a zero-tolerance approach to crime, adopted from the
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
system, during his time as head of Middlesbrough's
CIDThe Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
.
2011 election
Political composition
Below is the political composition of the council in 2008 and 2011.
| Year | Labour The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
| ConservativesThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
| Liberal Democrats | Independents In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
/GreensGreens may refer to:*Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc.-Politics:Supranational* Green politics* Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics* Global Greens...
|
| 2008 |
26 |
6 |
5 |
11 |
| 2011 |
30 |
4 |
1 |
13 |
The borough has 23 council wards. Middlesbrough is mostly unparished, with
NunthorpeNunthorpe is a small outer suburb of the town of Middlesbrough, England. Nunthorpe is served by Nunthorpe and Gypsy Lane railway stations, both of which are on the Esk Valley Line from Middlesbrough to Whitby...
and
Stainton and ThorntonStainton and Thornton is a civil parish in Middlesbrough, England. It consists of the two villages Stainton and Thornton....
being the only parishes.
Coat of arms
The original coat of arms of the Borough was devised in the nineteenth century by William Hylton Dyer Longstaffe, and regranted in 1996 with slight modifications after the dissolution of Cleveland County. The images, from the collection of the
Heraldry Society,
will be found on Robert Young's
Civic Heraldry website.
External links