Northumberland County Council is a

unitary authority 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 ...

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 ...

. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028.

History

It was formed in 1889 as the council for 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 ...

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 ...

. The city of

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 ...

was a

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 ...

independent from the county council, although the county council had its meeting place at Moot Hall in the city.

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...

subsequently also became a county borough in 1904, removing it from the administrative county. The county was further reformed in 1974, becoming a

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 ...

and ceding further territory around the Newcastle conurbation to the new metropolitan county of

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

. As part of the

2009 structural changes to local government in England Structural changes to local government in England were effected on 1 April 2009, whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in parts of the country which previously operated a "two-tier" system of counties and districts. In five s ...

it became a unitary authority with the same boundaries, this disregarded the referendum held in 2005 in which the population voted against the forming of a unitary authority. Its elections have been in May 2008, 2013, 2017 and 2021 at four-yearly intervals, the expected length of office of each councillor.

Naming of the new unitary authority

Throughout 2008, the people of Northumberland were consulted about the new name of the unitary authority. The choice was between having the name of the incumbent county council as the name for the new unitary authority – ''Northumberland County Council'' or whether a brand new name should be given – ''Northumberland Council''. Online polls were held and the votes of staff within the former district councils were collated and overall, the name of the incumbent county council was preferred on a ratio of nearly 2:1. On 17 December 2008 it was decided that the new name would be Northumberland County Council. The chairman of the council stated that: Legally, however, the council remains the same body as before, simply assuming the functions of the districts.

Council leadership

Northumberland appoints a civic head each year, and separately appoints a business chair to preside over council meetings. This differs from most councils where these two ceremonial roles are performed by the same person. The civic head for 2022–2023 is Trevor Cessford, whilst the business chair since 2021 has been Barry Flux, both

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. Political leadership is provided by the

leader of the council In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...

, being Glen Sanderson since 2020.

Leader of the council and cabinet

Leader of the official opposition and shadow cabinet

Composition

Following the election of 2021, Northumberland County Council the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

gained majority control of the Council. Following a

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

gain in a December 2021 by election, the Conservatives lost majority control.

Other uses

Eurostat statistical area

For

Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statis ...

purposes the area under the jurisdiction of Northumberland County Council is a NUTS 3 region (code UKC21) and is one of six boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Local government in Northumberland Unitary authority councils of England Former county councils of England 1889 establishments in England 2009 establishments in England Local education authorities in England Billing authorities in England Local authorities in Northumberland Leader and cabinet executives