Teesside - Local Government

Local Government

In 1974 the County Borough of Teesside was absorbed into the larger non-metropolitan county of Cleveland along with the towns of Hartlepool and Guisborough. The Teesside area was partitioned between the boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh, with the wards of Billingham East & West, Grangefield, Hartburn, Mile House, North End, Norton, Stockton South, Thornaby East & West going to Stockton; the wards of Coatham, Eston Grange, Kirkleatham, Ormesby, Redcar and South Bank going to Langbaurgh; and the rest going to Middlesbrough.

Local government reorganisation in 1996, recommended by the Banham Review, saw the county of Cleveland broken up into the four independent unitary authority boroughs of Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland (a renamed Langbaurgh). At this time they were returned to the counties of North Yorkshire and County Durham for ceremonial purposes, with Stockton-on-Tees becoming the only district in England split between two ceremonial counties. In 1998 the neighbouring Borough of Darlington also became an independent unitary authority and this along with the four former Cleveland boroughs form the sub-region of the Tees Valley which is used for statistical purposes and governmental organisation. The name Tees Valley is increasingly promoted for economic and cultural connections, but is seen by many residents as little more than another example of unwanted rebranding. Teesside, Cleveland and the former historic county names of Yorkshire and Durham remain popular in everyday usage, e.g. Cleveland Police and Cleveland Fire Brigade still carry the county name even though the county was abolished in 1996. On items of post, it is very common to see Cleveland as the county (rather in the same way Middlesex lingers) - although Royal Mail will not commit to any county name, citing that post towns and postcodes are adequate for all UK areas. To quote a local resident recently interviewed by the BBC, "Say Teesside, write Cleveland".

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