The Borough of Hartlepool is a unitary authority area in ceremonial

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 ...

, England. The borough's largest town is

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 D ...

. 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, Derwent ...

as well as the boroughs of Redcar and Cleveland 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 estimat ...

. The local authority is Hartlepool Borough Council, a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. 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 te ...

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

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, Claxton, Dalton Piercy, 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 Shapi ...

, Greatham, Hart and Newton Bewley, from the Stockton Rural District, all of which had been part of the administrative county of Durham. 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 United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

. Cleveland was abolished in 1996 after a review by the Banham Commission, 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 ...

becoming unitary authorities. For ceremonial purposes Hartlepool returned to

, however it continues to share certain local services with the other former Cleveland boroughs, including the Cleveland Police 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 Clevelan ...

. In May 2021, four parish councils of the villages of Elwick, Hart, Dalton Piercy and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to re-join

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 The Mayor of Hartlepool was the executive mayor of Hartlepool Borough Council in County Durham, England. Established in 2002 and abolished in 2013, all three terms of office were served by Stuart Drummond. The office was established in 2002 foll ...

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. 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, Hart, Dalton Piercy 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. Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hart ...

, '

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 Hart ...

', with a majority of approximately 500 over the second-placed Labour Party candidate. The man inside the monkey costume,

Stuart Drummond Stuart Drummond (born 29 November 1973) was the first and only directly elected mayor of Hartlepool in North East England.Oliver Wright, ''Monkey business turns serious for Hartlepool''. The Times. London (UK): May 4, 2002. pg. 13 He was fi ...

, 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 * Independe ...

, 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