Cleveland was a ceremonial county located in northern England. It was created in 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, and named after the historic area of

Cleveland, Yorkshire Cleveland is a land of hills and dales from the River Tees to Vale of Pickering, England. The name means “cliff-land”. The area corresponds to the former Langbaurgh Wapentake. The North York Moors national park, established in 1952, ...

. The county was abolished in 1996. The area was partitioned between the four boroughs of

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

, Stockton-on-Tees,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Langbaurgh-on-Tees Redcar and Cleveland is a borough with unitary authority status in North Yorkshire, England. Its main settlements are Redcar, South Bank, Eston, Brotton, Guisborough, the Greater Eston part of Middlesbrough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton. Th ...

, the latter of which took its name from the former

Langbaurgh East Langbaurgh East was a wapentake of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the eastern division of Langbaurgh, England. The name is now in use as a local justice area (formerly a petty sessional division), consisting of the eastern, mostly rural part ...

. The

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

was

. The administrative county bordered

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

to the north and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

to the south, and it faced the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

to the east. Cleveland had a total area of . The legacy of the county lives on in some public bodies, such as

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the policing area corresponding to the former county of Cleveland in Northern England. As of September 2017, the force had 1,274 police officers, 278 police staff, 124 police com ...

Formation

A Bill as originally presented in November 1971 that intended the administrative county to have been an extended form of the then present

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

, an independent district in the

North Riding The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

from 1968 to 1974. On 1 April 1974, by the

, most of the then Cleveland constituency and Hartlepool were incorporated as the Cleveland

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

Proposed abolition

Local government reorganisation, recommended by the

Banham Review The Local Government Commission for England was the body responsible for reviewing the structure of local government in England from 1992 to 2002. It was established under the Local Government Act 1992, replacing the Local Government Boundary C ...

and accepted by the government, meant that each district borough be re-organised into separate unitary authorities with the Tees be re-established as a ceremonial border between

and

. The county district boroughs of Cleveland were re-organised into

, Stockton-on-Tees,

and

Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland is a borough with unitary authority status in North Yorkshire, England. Its main settlements are Redcar, South Bank, Eston, Brotton, Guisborough, the Greater Eston part of Middlesbrough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton. Th ...

. The reorganisation meant that Stockton-on-Tees became the only local authority in England to be split between two counties. This split was contested by Cleveland

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

, who applied for

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

over the decision. According to the Minister,

David Curry David Maurice Curry (born 13 June 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Skipton and Ripon from 1987 to 2010. Early life Curry, the son of teachers, was educated at the Ripon Grammar School ...

, in the Commons debate on the order on 11 January 1995, this caused a delay from 1 April 1995 as the reorganisation date to 1 April 1996.

Abolition

As the first of the Orders to be laid before Parliament, it was done in two stages. The Cleveland (Structural Change) Order 1995 had the main effect of abolishing the County Council, whilst the Cleveland (Further Provision) Order 1995 abolished the actual administrative county, creating four new (non-metropolitan) unitary authorities coterminous with each of the boroughs. A division was forced by the Opposition, on the first Order, with 310 in favour and 223 opposed. Of Cleveland's six MPs,

Mo Mowlam Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mini ...

and Frank Cook (both Labour) voted against, with Tim Devlin and Michael Bates (both Conservative) voted for. Stuart Bell and

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

(both Labour) were present at the debate but did not vote.

Town twinning

Cleveland, as a conurbation of settlements, was twinned with: *

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio, United States

Statistical

NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom International Territorial Level (ITL) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom for statistical purposes, used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). From 2003 and until 2020 it functioned as part of ...

were also introduced in 1974. This caused South

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

to be put with the reformed counties using the name Yorkshire, to form Yorkshire and Humber. South Tees came under

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

region.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Places in the Tees Valley History of County Durham History of the Borough of Hartlepool Metropolitan areas of England Counties of England established in 1974 Counties of England disestablished in 1996