Borough of Stockton-on-Tees


The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority area with borough status in County Durham and North Yorkshire, England. In 2021, it had a population of 196,600.
The main settlement and namesake of the borough is Stockton-on-Tees, which lies on the north bank of the River Tees in County Durham, along with the towns of Billingham and Norton-on-Tees. The borough also includes the towns of Ingleby Barwick, Thornaby-on-Tees and Yarm, all south of the Tees, in North Yorkshire. Bridges spanning the River Tees include the Yarm Viaduct and the Tees Transporter Bridge. The borough is locally governed by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and forms part of the Tees Valley together with the boroughs of Darlington, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Hartlepool. Teesside International Airport is partly within the borough.

History

Municipal authority

Stockton previously held borough status as the Municipal Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in historic County Durham.

Loss of status

In 1968, the borough was merged into Teesside County Borough; this civil parish was a part of the ceremonial North Riding county until its abolition.

District authority

The town regained borough status on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. It became a non-metropolitan district of the County of Cleveland, itself established at the same time. Multiple parishes and boroughs merged into Stockton's newly formed district borough:
  • Teesside County Borough's area covering the former Stockton, Billingham and Thornaby municipal boroughs,
  • Hilton, Ingleby Barwick, Kirklevington, Maltby, and Yarm parishes of the previous North Riding County-administered Stokesley Rural District, and
  • Part of the County Durham-administered Stockton Rural District parishes.

    Unitary authority

The borough became a unitary authority on 1 April 1996. It is ceremonially split between County Durham and North Yorkshire, to the north and south of the Tees respectively. It is the only council in England to be split between two ceremonial counties. The former districts and boroughs of Durham now form the unitary authority of County Durham, so ceremonial County Durham now has four unitary authorities.

Economy

The Office for National Statistics has published a of the trend of regional gross value of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees.
YearRegional gross value addedAgricultureIndustryServices
19952,80491,4431,352
20003,25261,3591,887
20033,36461,0372,320

includes hunting and forestry.
includes energy and construction.
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured.
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Demographics

In the 2021 census, the borough was recorded as having a population of 196,595 with 50.9% being female.
For sexuality, those who identified as straight or heterosexual were 91.6%, gay or lesbian were 1.4%, bisexual were 0.9%, pansexual were 0.2%, asexual were 0.0%, queer were 0.0, 'all other sexual orientations' were 0.0% and those who did not answer were 5.9%.

Local nature reserves

The council maintains a number of local nature reserves including Barwick Pond, Charlton's Pond, Greenvale, Hardwick Dene and Elm Tree Woods, Norton Grange Marsh, Quarry Wood, and Stillington Forest Park.

Town and parish councils

Town councils