Cleveland was a

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

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. 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 Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, Middlesbrough and Langbaurgh-on-Tees, the latter of which took its name from the former Langbaurgh East. 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 Middlesbrough. 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 to the south, and it faced the North Sea to the east. Cleveland had a total area of . The legacy of the county lives on in some public bodies, such as Cleveland Police.

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 of Teesside, an independent district in the North Riding 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.

Proposed abolition

Local government reorganisation, recommended by the Banham Review 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 North Yorkshire and

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

, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland. 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, who applied for judicial review over the decision. According to the Minister, David Curry, 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 and Frank Cook (both Labour) voted against, with

Tim Devlin Timothy Robert Devlin (born 13 June 1959) is a British barrister and former Conservative Party politician. From 1987 to 1997, he was the Member of Parliament for Stockton South. Early life Devlin was born on 13 June 1959. He was educated at Dulw ...

and Michael Bates (both Conservative) voted for.

Stuart Bell Sir Stuart Bell (16 May 1938 – 13 October 2012) was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough from the 1983 general election until his death in 2012. He was known as the longest servin ...

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

Town twinning

Cleveland, as a conurbation of settlements, was

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Statistical

NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom were also introduced in 1974. This caused South Humberside to be put with the reformed counties using the name Yorkshire, to form

Yorkshire and Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL (UK), ITL for Office for National Statistics, statistical purposes. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000 with its largest settlements being Leeds, She ...

. South Tees came under North East of England 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