Durham County Council

Last updated

Durham County Council
Durham County Council.svg
Type
Type
Leadership
Joan Nicholson,
Derwentside Independents
since 29 March 2023 [1]
Amanda Hopgood,
Liberal Democrat
since 26 May 2021 [2]
John Hewitt
since December 2020 [3]
Structure
Seats126 councillors [4]
Political groups
Administration (67)
  Conservative (22)
  Independent (21)
  Liberal Democrats (17)
  Derwentside Ind. (4)
  North East Party (2)
  Green (1)
Other parties (59)
  Labour (56)
  Independent (3)
Joint committees
 North East Combined Authority
Length of term
4 years
Elections
First past the post
Last election
 6 May 2021
Next election
1 May 2025
Meeting place
Main Entrance County Hall Durham City (geograph 1867806).jpg
County Hall, Aykley Heads, Durham, DH1 5UL
Website
www.durham.gov.uk

Durham County Council is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of County Durham in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, having taken over district-level functions when the county's districts were abolished. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of County Durham, which additionally includes Darlington, Hartlepool and the parts of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees. The county council has its headquarters at County Hall in Durham.

Contents

The council has been under no overall control since the 2021 election, being run by a coalition of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Derwentside Independents, Green Party, and most of the independents, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Hopgood. The council is a constituent member of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority.

History

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions previously carried out by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. The boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs, independent from Durham County Council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the rest of the county, which area was termed the administrative county. [5]

Additional county boroughs were later created at West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. In 1967 West Hartlepool merged with the neighbouring borough of Hartlepool (which had just covered the old town), with the enlarged county borough thereafter being called Hartlepool. Stockton-on-Tees, Billingham and surrounding areas were removed from the administrative county in 1968 to become part of the County Borough of Teesside.

Durham Crown Court, formerly Shire Hall: Council's first meeting place 1889-1898 Durham Crown Court, December 2020.jpg
Durham Crown Court, formerly Shire Hall: Council's first meeting place 1889–1898

The first elections took place in January 1889 and the county council formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day its first official meeting was held at the old Shire Hall on Old Elvet in Durham, the courthouse (built 1811) which had served as the meeting place of the quarter sessions which preceded the county council. [6] The first chairman of the council was John Lloyd Wharton, who was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ripon (in Yorkshire); he had also been chairman of the Durham Quarter Sessions since 1871. [7]

Durham was the first county council to be controlled by the Labour Party, which won the most seats in 1919. [8]

In 1974, the county was redesignated as a non-metropolitan county under the Local Government Act 1972. As part of those reforms the county ceded territory in the north-east to the new county of Tyne and Wear and in the south-east to the new county of Cleveland, but gained the former Startforth Rural District covering the part of Teesdale south of the River Tees from the North Riding of Yorkshire, and Darlington was brought back under the county council's control. [9]

Until 1974 the lower tier of local government comprised numerous boroughs, urban districts and rural districts. The districts were also reorganised in 1974 into eight non-metropolitan districts: Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Durham, Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley. [10] [11]

In 1997 Darlington became a unitary authority, removing it from county council control. [12] Durham County Council itself became a unitary authority on 1 April 2009, when the seven remaining non-metropolitan districts of the county were abolished and the county council absorbed their functions. [13] The legislation which made the county council a unitary authority allowed the council to omit the word 'County' from its name to become 'Durham Council', but in the event the name 'Durham County Council' was kept. [14] [lower-alpha 1]

In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland, called the North East Mayoral Combined Authority. It is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the North East and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area. [15]

Governance

Since 2009, Durham County Council has provided both county-level and district-level services. Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a lower tier of local government for their areas. [16]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since the 2021 election. Labour is the largest party, but a coalition of all the other parties and most of the independent councillors formed to take control of the council, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Hopgood.

Durham was the first county council to be controlled by Labour, who took power in 1919. Between 1922 and 1925 the council was under no overall control with a Labour minority administration. From 1925 until 2021 Labour held a majority. Political control since 1919 has been as follows: [17] [8] [18]

Administrative county

Party in controlYears
Labour 1919–1922
No overall control 1922–1925
Labour 1925–1974

Two-tier non-metropolitan county

Party in controlYears
Labour 1974–2009

Unitary authority

Party in controlYears
Labour 2009–2021
No overall control 2021–present

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2001 have been: [19]

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Ken Manton [20] Labour 200110 May 2006
Albert Nugent Labour 10 May 200623 May 2008
Simon Henig Labour 23 May 200826 May 2021
Amanda Hopgood Liberal Democrats 26 May 2021

Composition

Following the 2021 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2024, the composition of the council was:

PartyCouncillors
Labour 56
Independent 24
Conservative 22
Liberal Democrats 17
Derwentside Independents 4
North East 2
Green 1
Total126

Of the independent councillors, six sit with the Derwentside Independents, North East Party and the Green councillor as the "Durham Group", nine form the "Durham County Council Independent Group", three form the "Spennymoor and Tudhoe Independent Group" and three form the "County Durham Independents". Each of these groups form part of the council's administration. The other three independents sit as the "Unaligned Group" which is not part of the administration. [21] The next election is due in 2025.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2013 the council has comprised 126 councillors representing 63 electoral divisions, with each division electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. [22] New division boundaries have been drawn up to take effect from the 2025 election, reducing the number of councillors to 98. [23]

Premises

The council is based at County Hall at Aykley Heads in the northern suburbs of the city of Durham. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1963. [24]

Shire Hall, Old Elvet: Council's headquarters 1898-1963 Indigo Hotel (Shire Hall), Durham, December 2020.jpg
Shire Hall, Old Elvet: Council's headquarters 1898–1963

When first created the council met at the courthouse on Old Elvet, which at the time was known as Shire Hall. A few years after its creation the council decided to build its own headquarters on a site nearby, also on Old Elvet, which was also given the name Shire Hall. The new building was completed in 1898, after which the old Shire Hall became known as the Assizes Court, and since 1971 as Durham Crown Court. [25]

The council has announced plans to move to the Rivergreen building, also in the Aykley Heads area of Durham, in 2025, with the intention that County Hall would then be redeveloped. [26] [27]

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References

  1. ↑ Like most unitary authorities, the way County Durham was legally made a unitary authority was by creating both a county and a district which cover the same area and then directing that only one of them should have a council, which performs both district and county functions. Unusually, the county and district have different names in this case: the non-metropolitan county (which had been created and named in the Local Government Act 1972) is called 'Durham', the non-metropolitan district created in the 2009 reforms is called 'County Durham'. The district does not have its own council, but the county council has been given district-level functions in addition to the county-level functions it already had.
  1. ↑ "Council minutes, 29 March 2023". Durham County Council. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  2. ↑ "Cross party alliance to run Durham County Council as 100-year Labour rule officially ends". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  3. ↑ Engelbrecht, Gavin (30 July 2021). "Durham County Council set to appoint John Hewitt as chief executive". Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  4. ↑ Durham County Council, webadmin@durham gov uk. "Local MPs and MEPs - information and advice". Durham County Council. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  5. ↑ "Local Government Act 1888", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1888 c. 41, retrieved 4 March 2024
  6. ↑ Historic England. "Crown Court (Grade II*) (1322878)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "Durham County Council". The Shields Daily Gazette. South Shields. 2 April 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  8. 1 2 Bloom, Dan (9 May 2021). "Labour lose control of Durham Council heartland for first time in a century". mirror. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Local Government Act 1972", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1972 c. 70, retrieved 5 March 2024
  10. ↑ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1972/2039, retrieved 31 May 2023
  11. ↑ "The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1973/551, retrieved 31 May 2023
  12. ↑ "The Durham (Borough of Darlington) (Structural Change) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1995/1772, retrieved 3 March 2024
  13. ↑ "The County Durham (Structural Change) Order 2008", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2008/493, retrieved 6 March 2024
  14. ↑ "The Local Government (Structural Changes) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provision) Order 2009: Article 7", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2009/837 (art. 7), retrieved 6 March 2024
  15. ↑ "The North East Mayoral Combined County Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2024/402, retrieved 6 May 2024
  16. ↑ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  17. ↑ Bulmer, Martin (2015). Mining and Social Change (Routledge Revivals): Durham County in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 129. ISBN   9781317448488.
  18. ↑ "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  19. ↑ "Council minutes". Durham County Council. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  20. ↑ "Leader's vote of confidence". Chronicle Live. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  21. ↑ "Your councillors by political grouping". Durham County Council. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  22. ↑ "The Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 2012", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2012/1394, retrieved 6 March 2024
  23. ↑ "The County Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 2024", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 2024/279, retrieved 6 March 2024
  24. ↑ "Durham County Hall proposed for listed building protection". Northern Echo. 8 August 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  25. ↑ Historic England. "Old Shire Hall (University Office), Old Elvet (1310562)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  26. ↑ Tague, Neil (18 October 2023). "Council buys Rivergreen for £11m". Place North East. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  27. ↑ Edgar, Bill (8 September 2023). "Durham County Council to demolish County Hall in relocation". Northern Echo. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by LGC Council of the Year
2014		Succeeded by
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