The North East Combined Authority, abbreviated to NECA, is one of three combined authorities in

North East 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 authorit ...

. It was created in 2014, and currently consists of the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns i ...

; Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead,

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the no ...

; and Durham County local authorities. The local authorities for

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

;

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered b ...

; and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

were included in the combined authority until 2018, when they left to form their own combined authority, the

North of Tyne Combined Authority The North of Tyne Combined Authority is a mayoral combined authority which consists the local authorities of Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, and Northumberland, all in North East England. The authority came into being on 2 November 2018 u ...

. For transport policy, both combined authorities have a joint transport committee. Other authorities in the North East England region that are not in the North of Tyne or the North East areas are part 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-T ...

. The North East Combined Authority was established in 2014 by statutory instrument under the

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The legislation places a duty on local authorities to promote understanding of the functions and democratic arrangements of th ...

. It has some powers over economic development and regeneration. It was announced in October 2015 that the authority would receive an enhanced devolution settlement and elect a mayor in 2017. These plans were later cancelled by the Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid on 8 September 2016 after Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside, and Sunderland Councils withdrew their support. NECA remains a non-mayoral combined authority.

History

In order to create a combined authority, the local authorities in the proposed area must undertake a governance review and produce a scheme of their proposals. At the first meeting of NECA on 15 April 2014,

Simon Henig Simon Antony Henig (born June 1969) is a British politician, former leader of Durham County Council, and since 15 April 2014, chair of the North East Combined Authority (NECA). Early life Simon Henig was born in June 1969, the son of the form ...

, the Leader of Durham County Council, was elected as chair. Upon formation, the functions, property, rights and liabilities of the former Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority were inherited by the North East Combined Authority, forming an executive body within the new authority as the

Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive Tyne and Wear PTE, branded as Nexus, is an executive body of the North East Joint Transport Committee and is best known for owning and operating the Tyne and Wear Metro. It replaced the Tyneside PTE on 1 April 1974. Operations TWPTE is responsi ...

Naming

The order which established the combined authority referred to it as the ''Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority'', simply listing the names of the constituent councils in alphabetical order. The initial consultation used the name ''Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Combined Authority''. The body uses the name North East Combined Authority or NECA. The board is known as the ''North East Leadership Board.'' The legal name of the authority was changed to ''Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority'' in November 2018.

Membership

The membership of the combined authority is as follows:

Local government

The combined authority consists of the following authorities ( population estimates):

References

External links

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North East Local Enterprise PartnershipBackground from Gateshead Council
{{Combined authorities Combined authorities Local government in North East England Local government in Tyne and Wear Local government in County Durham