Borough of Stockton-on-Tees

The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority area in England with borough status in County Durham and North Yorkshire. In 2021, it had a population of 196,600.^[5] 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.

Borough of Stockton-on-Tees
Unitary authority area and borough
From left to right Top: Stockton Town Hall Middle: Yarm Viaduct and Billingham town centre Bottom: Norton and Thornaby Town Hall
Coat of arms
Motto:  Forward as One
The part of the borough in County Durham
The part of the borough in North Yorkshire
Coordinates: 54.56°N 1.30°W / 54.56; -1.30
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North East
Ceremonial counties	County Durham North Yorkshire
City region	Tees Valley
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Unitary authority	1 April 1996
Named after	Stockton-on-Tees
Administrative HQ	Municipal buildings, Stockton-on-Tees
Government [1]
• Type	Unitary authority
• Body	Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Executive	Leader and cabinet
• Control	No overall control
• Leader	Bob Cook (L)
• Mayor	John Gardner
• MPs	3 MPs Andy McDonald (L) Chris McDonald (L) Matt Vickers (C)
Area [2]
• Total	79 sq mi (205 km2)
• Rank	143rd
Population  (2022)[3]
• Total	199,966
• Rank	98th
• Density	2,530/sq mi (976/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
• Ethnic groups	List 92.0% White 4.6% Asian 1.4% Mixed 1.1% Black 0.8% other
Religion (2021) [4]
• Religion	List 51.1% Christianity 39.1% no religion 3.4% Islam 0.4% Hinduism 0.4% Sikhism 0.3% Buddhism 0.0% Judaism 0.3% other 5.0% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	TS
Dialling codes	01642
ISO 3166 code	GB-STT
GSS code	E06000004
Website	stockton.gov.uk

History

Municipal authority

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

Loss of status

See also: County Borough of Teesside

In 1968, the borough was merged into Teesside County Borough; this civil parish was a part of the ceremonial (not administrative) North Riding county until its abolition.

District authority

Further information: Cleveland (county)

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 with the ceremonial county boundary (the River Tees) shown

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 chart (pp. 240–253) of the trend of regional gross value of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (figures in Sterling [millions]).

Year	Regional Gross Value Added4	Agriculture1	Industry2	Services3
1995	2,804	9	1,443	1,352
2000	3,252	6	1,359	1,887
2003	3,364	6	1,037	2,320

^1 includes hunting and forestry.

^2 includes energy and construction.

^3 includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured.

^4 Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Tees Valley

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 was 0.9%, Pansexual was 0.2%, Asexual was 0.0%, Queer was 0.0, 'All other sexual orientations' were 0.0% and those who did not answer were 5.9%.^[6]

[Note, for percentages with 0.0%, this may due to a number too low to represent using the number of digits supplied rather than a lack of those who identified as that specific idea]

Sex
2021 Census[6]	Count	%
All usual residents	196,595	100.0
Female	100,072	50.9
Male	96,523	49.1

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 (Eaglescliffe), and Stillington Forest Park.

Town and parish councils

Town councils

• County Durham: Billingham
• North Yorkshire: Ingleby Barwick • Thornaby-on-Tees • Yarm-on-Tees

Parish councils

• County Durham: Aislaby and Newsham • Carlton • Elton • Egglescliffe and Eaglescliffe • Grindon • Long Newton • Norton-on-Tees • Preston-on-Tees • Redmarshall • Stillington and Whitton • Wolviston • Wynyard
• North Yorkshire: Hilton • Kirklevington and Castle Levington • Maltby