Tees Valley is a

combined authority A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local au ...

area in

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

, around the lower

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

. The area is not a geographical

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

. The combined authority covers five council areas:

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Redcar and Cleveland and

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

: this includes areas in both

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

counties. The town of

is the largest population centre in the area. The borough of Middlesbrough is the smallest of the five, at only and a population of : the Stockton-on-Tees borough (including multiple towns) is the largest with an area of and a population of , as of . From 1968 until 1974, parts of the area were included in the County Borough of Teesside council area. This was replaced by Cleveland county; it had four borough councils which became

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

after the county was abolished in 1996. Darlington became a unitary authority in 1997; the five authorities formed a

Local Enterprise Partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead ec ...

in 2011, further collaboration between the five authorities lead to

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the Combined authorities and combined county authorities, combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in North East England consisting of the following five Unitary authority, unitary authoriti ...

being created in 2016.

Background

The

' geographical valley is traditionally known as Teesdale. For centuries, north Tees was under the Prince-bishopric of Durham. Both Darlington and Stockton had ancient wards. Middleton St George, Hartlepool and Billingham were in Stockton ward, the latter two were also in a district called Hartness. South Tees was under a wapentake called Langbaurgh, which had been the Easton part of the ancient region of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

's North Riding. Urban districts (such as Eston,

Billingham Billingham is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority ...

and Saltburn and Marske by the Sea) and parts of

rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

s, as well as

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

s (such as

, Thornaby-on-Tees and

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...

) and county boroughs (

) were merged into the County Borough of Teesside in 1968. However in 1974, the county borough was disbanded. The 1974 reforms created the county of Cleveland, including

, the former Urban Districts of Guisborough, Saltburn and Marske, Skelton and Brotton and Loftus. Four

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

were also created. Hartlepool, Stockton which had formerly been part of County Durham were created along with Middlesbrough and a new District Council of Langbaurgh (this took its name from the ancient Danelaw Wapentake of Langbaurgh of which if had formed the northern part.) These had formerly being parts of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Local government reorganisation in 1996 saw the county of Cleveland broken up: the boroughs became

. The boroughs were placed into the counties of

and

for ceremonial purposes. In 1997, the Borough of Darlington also became a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

Governance

UK Parliament

Tees Valley is divided into seven and a part UK parliamentary

borough constituencies In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by ...

: *

* Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland *

* Sedgefield (shared with the

North East Combined Authority The North East Combined Authority (NECA) is a combined authority in North East England. It has a directly-elected Mayor and seven member councils: two are unitary authorities ( Durham and Northumberland) and five are metropolitan borough counc ...

) * Stockton North * Stockton South Each constituency is made up of wards. Four constituencies were held by the Conservative Party after the 2019 general election, up by three since the 2017 general election. This was expanded to five after the 2021 Hartlepool by-election. Labour hold the other two. Sedgefield's partial seat is also represented by a Conservative MP, as of the 2019 election. The two Middlesbrough seats have the largest majorities for either party. The Middlesbrough constituency has a sizeable Labour majority, whereas the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency has a strong Conservative majority.

Authorities

Tees Valley Combined Authority has its headquarters at Cavendish House, Thornaby. The area has 5 borough councils, each council has a representative in the combined authority. The TVCA, amends the mayor's annual budget (by two-thirds majority). It does not have the power to block the mayor's directives.

Mayors

The Mayor of Tees Valley is a directly elected politician who, along with the Combined Authority, is responsible for the strategic government of Tees Valley. There are other mayors for the boroughs of

and Stockton-on-Tees. Hartlepool also had a Mayor from 2002 to 2013. The current Tees Valley Mayor is Ben Houchen. The Mayor is responsible for Tees Valley's strategic planning and is required to produce or amend a plan for each electoral cycle.

Lord Lieutenants

Two Lord Lieutenants ( Durham and

) are appointed by the borough's ceremonial counties.

Economy

The following is a chart of the Gross Value Added to the UK economy by the Tees Valley Combined Authority region, aggregated by industry.

Enterprise zone

The Tees Valley Enterprise Zone is an

enterprise zone An urban enterprise zone is an area in which policies to encourage economic growth and development are implemented. Urban enterprise zone policies generally offer tax concessions, infrastructure incentives, and reduced regulations to attract invest ...

which encourages industrial development. It was initiated by the

local enterprise partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead ec ...

Tees Valley Unlimited and its creation was announced by the government in 2011. At its launch, the zone contained 12 sites. Four of these sites offer enhanced capital allowances, aimed at large manufacturers. These sites are Wilton International and South Bank Wharf, both in Redcar and Cleveland, Port Estates in Hartlepool and New Energy and Technology Park in

, Stockton-on-Tees. The remaining sites offer reduced business rates. In March 2015 the government announced that a thirteenth site is to be added, South Bank Wharf Prairie, aimed at oil and gas decommissioning business.

Businesses

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI) operated here until the late 1990s on three chemical sites at Wilton, Billingham and Seal Sands. ICI was broken up, and its many chemical manufacturing units are now operated by a large number of companies that have acquired its assets. The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), a national innovation catapult, is based at the Wilton Centre, the former corporate headquarters of ICI, which has become a multi-company research and development centre: along with CPI there are now some 60 other companies, including the cluster body NEPIC, using these R&D and business development facilities. This centre is now one of Europe's largest R&D facilities focusing on developments in the chemistry-based process industries. The area is a chemicals processing area, but recently it has diversified to become the UK's leading site for renewable

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

research. This industrial activity is taking place in a collaborative environment facilitated by the economic cluster body, the North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). Hartlepool has a nuclear power station, and there is a conventional CHP power station and a biomass power station operated by Sembcorp on the Wilton chemical sit
Hereema Fabrication Group
make North Sea platforms at the A1048/ A179 roundabout in Hartlepool.
Wilton Engineering's
50 acre fabrication and maintenance site is in Port Clarence. Barker and Stonehouse make furniture north of Middlesbrough next to the A66/ A178 junction. The Teesside Steelworks near Redcar was the biggest blast furnace in Europe and was operated in its final years by Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI).

Tata Steel Europe Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the Br ...

operate a pipe works at Hartlepool, whilst British Steel operate a heavy beam mill near Middlesbrough and a special sections mill at Skinningrove Steelworks.

Able UK Able UK is a British industrial services company specialising in decommissioning of ships and offshore installations. Overview Able UK is a British industrial services company, operating primarily in the marine decommissioning and recycling bu ...

operate the biggest dry dock in the UK near Seaton Carew, Hartlepool where ships can be dismantled and oil rigs can be dismantled or refurbished. The many chemistry-based businesses on Teesside include Huntsman Tioxide plant at Greatham makes

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound derived from titanium with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or Colour Index Internationa ...

. Huntsman's European headquarters are in Wynyard. Johnson Matthey Catalysts and Fujifilm Dyosynth Biologics have manufacturing units in Billingham while the Lucite International Acrylics factory and the Mitsubishi battery chemical plant are on the other side of the town. Exwold Technology operate their two extrusion and packaging facilities in Hartlepool. Banner Chemicals are adjacent to the A66 in Middlesbrough.

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

's visit to the former ICI plant in Billingham inspired ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hier ...

'' and this unit now makes fertiliser for Growhow, using 1% of the UK's natural gas. SABIC petrochemicals and polymers, Lotte Chemicals PET and PTA plants, Biffa recycled polymers, Huntsman polyurethanes and the Ensus Biofuels all operate at Wilton. ConocoPhillips refinery, BP Cats, Harvest Energy Biodiesel unit, Greenery Fuels, Fine Organics, Vertelus speciality chemicals and Ineos Nitriles are all based at Seal Sands, with Vopak and Simon Storage tank storage businesses nearby. Sita are upgrading their unit at Haverton Hill. Marlow Foods produce Quorn, and KP Snacks make McCoy's in Billingham. Santander UK's mortgages division is located in Thornaby. Tetley Tea have had their only

tea bag A tea bag (or teabag) is a small, porous, sealed bag or Packet (container), packet typically containing tea leaves (''Camellia sinensis'') or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steeping, steep and make an infusion. Origina ...

factory in the UK at Eaglescliffe, in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, since 1969. It is the largest tea bag factory in the world and makes 18 billion tea bags a year. Its distribution centre is at nearby Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

Teesport

Teesport is on the

and is currently the third largest port in the United Kingdom, and amongst the ten biggest in Western Europe, in terms of tonnage shipped. Its size is due to the local steel and chemical industries. This port handles over 56 million tonnes of goods per annum which are mainly associated with the local petrochemical, chemical and steel processing industries. The port is an important piece of logistical infrastructure for the NEPIC cluster of process companies. PD Ports, who own Teesport, is headquartered in Middlesbrough adjacent to Middlesbrough railway station.

Demographics

Landmarks

Transport

Road

Main Triple-digit roads Bus Most of the area is served by Stagecoach's Tees Flex network, a pre-bookable service running in and around the valley, mainly serving Stockton on Tees, Darlington and Redcar and Cleveland. Services are operated by a dedicated fleet of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibuses.

Rail

Stations The stations, by borough, are as follows: *Darlington: **, , and *Hartlepool: ** and *Stockton-on-Tees: **, , , , and *Middlesbrough: **, , , and *Redcar and Cleveland: ** and , , , and . Lines Tyne and Wear and Tees Rail Map

* is connected to the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

(ECML) and provides fast connections to London and Edinburgh. From May 2018, the UK Government announced that the line was to be re-nationalised for the second time since privatisation in 1997. Tees Valley Metro Route

* Tees Valley line, serves most of the area and links to Darlington and Teesside Airport station, with sections being the former

Stockton & Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...

. * Durham Coast Line, connects , , and with the main line. * Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line, connects and with Durham Coast Line. * Esk Valley line: serves most Middlesbrough stations Services

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

-based LNER serves the full length of the ECML and operates Darlington railway station. There is also a daily LNER service from Middlesbrough to London King's Cross, while Grand Central has linked Teesside with London since December 2007 with a non-stop from York onwards. It does not have electric trains, and uses the Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line and Durham Coast Line.

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

operate regular services from Darlington to

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and southwest England. Local-service routes in the Tees Valley are provided by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

. TransPennine Express has inter-regional services from Saltburn to Manchester Airport, via

Air

Teesside International Airport Teesside International Airport , formerly Durham Tees Valley Airport, is a small international airport in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It primarily serves Teesside (including Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees), south and ...

serves the area and has a regular service from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Schiphol airport.

Media

Television

The area is served by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees, the local based-television station Local TV Teesside also broadcast to the area. Television signals are received from either the Pontop Pike or

Bilsdale Bilsdale is a Dale (landform), dale in the western part of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England. The head of the dale is at Hasty Bank, and the dale extends south to meet Rye Dale near Hawnby. The dale is the valley of the River ...

TV transmitters.

Radio

Radio stations for the area are: ; BBC Local Radio * BBC Radio Tees ; Independent Radio * Capital North East * Greatest Hits Radio Teesside *

Heart North East Heart North East is a regional radio broadcasting, radio station owned and operated by Global Group, Global as part of the Heart (radio network), Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England. History Century Radio Century Radio was the ...

* Hits Radio Teesside * Nation Radio North East * Smooth North East ;

Community Radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

* Zetland FM (serving Redcar and Cleveland) *CVFM Radio (for

) * Alpha Radio Darlington * Radio Hartlepool

Newspapers

Tees Valley is served by these local newspapers: * Darlington & Stockton Times *Evening Gazette ( TeessideLive online) * Hartlepool Mail *

The Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its the ...

Sport

Football

Association

Wearside League also host: *FC Hartlepool, Hartlepool, County Durham *Wynyard Village, Wynyard (Stockton), County Durham Under the Northern League there is also the North Riding Football League, founded in 2017 by a merger of Teesside Football League and the Eskvale & Cleveland League In the women's football pyramid,

and the Norton and Stockton Ancients play in the fourth tier (Division One North).

Rugby Union

As of the 2022-2 season, there are fourteen Rugby Union Football Clubs in the region, Darlington Mowden Park is in the highest division compared to the rest of the clubs:

Cricket

ECB PL's North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League:

Basketball

* Tees Valley Mohawks * Teesside Lions

Notes

References

{{authority control

Middlesbrough North Yorkshire Stockton-on-Tees Redcar and Cleveland Darlington Hartlepool Places in the Tees Valley Local enterprise partnerships