The Borough of Hartlepool is a unitary authority area in

ceremonial A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secular ...

County Durham, England. The borough's largest town is Hartlepool. It borders the

County Durham district County Durham is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Durham, North East England. It covers the former non-metropolitan county and its seven districts: Durham (city), Easington, Sedgefield (borough), Teesdale, Wear Valley, Derwentsi ...

as well as the boroughs of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The local authority is Hartlepool Borough Council, a member of the

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in England consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees ...

. In 2003 it had a resident population of 90,161, increasing to 92,028 at the 2011 Census. It is made up of 17 council wards and the Hartlepool constituency has been coterminous with the council area since the 1983 parliamentary redistribution.

History

After several unification efforts starting in 1902, the

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 ...

of Hartlepool was formed in 1967 by the merger of the original borough of Hartlepool (the "Headland") with the county borough of

West Hartlepool West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland. The former town was originally formed in ...

further south on Tees Bay, together with the parish of

Seaton Carew Seaton Carew is a seaside resort and civil parish in the Borough of Hartlepool in County Durham, England. It had an estimated population of 6,018. The area is named after a Norman French family called Carou who owned lands in the area and set ...

to provide coastal land for industrial development. The borough was reformed and enlarged on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the previous county borough of Hartlepool, along with the parishes of

Brierton Brierton is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and hamlet in the borough of Hartlepool (borough), Hartlepool, County Durham, England. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was less than 100. Dalton Piercy village hall hold ...

Claxton Claxton may refer to: Places *Claxton, County Durham, England *Claxton, Norfolk, England *Claxton, North Yorkshire, England *Claxton, Georgia, USA ** the Claxton meteorite of 1984, which fell in Georgia, United States (see meteorite falls) * Claxto ...

Dalton Piercy Dalton Piercy is a village and civil parish in the borough of Hartlepool, County Durham, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Cernsus was 289. Location Dalton Piercy is situated 1 mile east of the A19 and 1 mile to ...

, Elwick,

Elwick Hall Elwick is the name of the following places: In the United Kingdom: * Elwick, County Durham, a village and civil parish * Elwick, Northumberland, a village * Elwick, Orkney (Norse: Ellidarvik) *Elwick Bay, on the south coast of Shapinsay, one of t ...

, Greatham,

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile Wo ...

and

Newton Bewley Newton Bewley is a village and civil parish in the borough of Hartlepool and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated between the towns of Hartlepool and Billingham. The postal area code is TS22 for Teesside but uses a Sed ...

, from the

Stockton Rural District Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand *Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom *Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk *Stockton, Chirbu ...

, all of which had been part of the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. The enlarged borough was transferred at the same time from County Durham to the new non-metropolitan county of

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. ...

. Cleveland was abolished in 1996 after a review by the

Banham Commission 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 Co ...

, with the four boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, Redcar & Cleveland and

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 ...

becoming

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. For ceremonial purposes Hartlepool returned to County Durham, however it continues to share certain local services with the other former Cleveland boroughs, including the

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 ...

and

Cleveland Fire Brigade Cleveland Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the boroughs of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland & Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England. The name originates from the former county of Cleveland ...

. In May 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick,

and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to re-join County Durham.

Council

Since 2 May 2013 the council has used the leader and committee hybrid model of executive arrangements. The executive function of Hartlepool Borough Council was controlled by a directly elected mayor of Hartlepool from 2002 to 2013. On 9 May 2019, The former Labour Council leader Christopher Akers-Belcher and two fellow party members, defected to the Socialist Labour Party following the Labour Party's defeat in the recent local elections. On 13 September 2019, ten independent councillors defected to the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...

. The Conservative councillors then formed a pact with the Brexit Party councillors to become the largest group on the council. In March 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick,

and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council due to a planning application being passed that they disagreed with, and hoped to use the issue to influence the outcome of the Local Elections.

Elected mayor

Between 2002 and 2013, Hartlepool was one of a small number of councils in the United Kingdom to have a directly elected mayor. This followed a referendum held in the borough in October 2001, and the first mayoral election was held in May 2002. The election became famous for being won by the mascot of Hartlepool United F.C., '

H'Angus the Monkey H'Angus the Monkey is the official mascot of Hartlepool United. The name "H'Angus" is a pun of the word hang and the name Angus, and is derived from the monkey hanger legend of Hartlepool. The mascot made his debut on 31 October 1999, during Ha ...

', with a majority of approximately 500 over the second-placed Labour Party candidate. The man inside the monkey costume, Stuart Drummond, served as mayor as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, being re-elected in 2005 with a majority of over 10,000 and again in 2009 with a second round majority of 844. In November 2012 Hartlepool voted in a referendum to abolish the directly elected mayor and return to having the council leader model used by most English councils. 7,366 voted against the directly elected mayor system, while 5,177 voted to retain it, on a turnout of 18%.

Settlements

Settlements in the borough include:

Demography

Ethnicity

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees at current basic price
published
(pp. 240–253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. ;Notes

References

External links

Hartlepool Borough Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartlepool, Borough of 1974 establishments in England Local government in County Durham Unitary authority districts of England Places in the Tees Valley Local government districts of North East England Boroughs in England