Tees Valley Combined Authority

Local government institution in North East England

Tees Valley Combined Authority

The Tees Valley highlighted within North East England

Type
Type|

Combined authority

of Tees Valley

Houses| Unicameral

Term limits

| None
History
Founded| 1 April 2016
Leadership

Mayor

Ben Houchen,
Conservative
since 8 May 2017

Chief Executive

Julie Gilhespie
since November 2018[1]

Structure
Seats| 5 constituent members and chair

Political groups

Labour (5)
Conservative (1)
Non-political (1)
Elections

Voting system

| Directly elected mayor since 2017

Last election

| 2 May 2024

Next election

| 4 May 2028
Meeting place
Teesside Airport Business Suite, Teesside International Airport, Darlington, DL2 1NJ
Website
teesvalley-ca.gov.uk

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in North East England consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees, covering a population of approximately 700,000 people. The area is divided between the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire and County Durham. It was proposed that a combined authority be established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.[2] It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration including the flagship Teesside Freeport.

The Combined Authority was established on 1 April 2016, after Local Government Minister James Wharton MP signed the necessary Order.[3] It was announced in October 2015 that voters in the region covered by the Authority would directly elect a Mayor in 2017.[4][5]

## History

[edit]

The abolition of the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland in 1996 left the Tees Valley without a single authority covering the whole area, although some council functions continued to be provided jointly through Cleveland Police and the Cleveland Fire Brigade.

A combined authority was proposed in 2014 and sixty-five per cent of more than 1,900 responses received during a seven-week long public consultation were in favour of a combined authority.[6]

A shadow combined authority was formed and chaired by Sue Jeffrey, Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.[7]

## Membership

[edit]

The authority consists of the five local authorities of Tees Valley as constituent members, the directly elected Mayor of Tees Valley as the chair, and the Chairman of the Tees Valley local enterprise partnership as an associate member.[8] The mayor is a member of the Mayoral Council for England and the Council of the Nations and Regions.

As of June 2025, the composition of the combined authority was:[9]

Name  | Membership  | Nominating authority  | Position within nominating authority

|
|
|

| Ben Houchen | Chair | Tees Valley Combined Authority  | Tees Valley Mayor
| Steve Harker  | Constituent  | Darlington Borough Council | Leader of the Council
| Brenda Harrison  | Constituent  | Hartlepool Borough Council | Leader of the Council
| Chris Cooke | Constituent  | Middlesbrough Borough Council | Mayor of Middlesbrough
| Alec Brown  | Constituent  | Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council | Leader of the Council
| Lisa Evans  | Constituent  | Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council | Leader of the Council
| Siobhan McArdle  | Non-constituent  | Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership | Chairman of the LEP

## Demographics

[edit]

Main article: Demographics of Tees Valley

### Population

[edit]

Population of Tees Valley by district (2022)[10] District  | Land area  | Population  | Density
(/km2)

|
|
|

(km2)  | (%)  | People  | (%)
Darlington  | 197  | 25%  | 109,469  | 16%  | 554
Hartlepool  | 94  | 12%  | 93,861  | 14%  | 1,002
Middlesbrough  | 54  | 7%  | 148,285  | 22%  | 2,752
Redcar and Cleveland  | 245  | 31%  | 137,175  | 20%  | 560
Stockton-on-Tees  | 205  | 26%  | 199,966  | 29%  | 976
Tees Valley  | 795  | 100%  | 688,756  | 100%  | 866

### Religion

[edit]

2021 Religious Data[11] Religion  | Tees Valley CA (Approximate)  | England %

|
|

Capita  | %
No religion  | 264,108  | 39.0  | 36.7
Christian  | 343,340  | 50.7  | 46.3
Buddhist  | 2,032  | 0.3  | 0.5
Hindu  | 3,386  | 0.5  | 1.8
Jewish  | –  | 0.0[note 1] | 0.5
Muslim  | 25,734  | 3.8  | 6.7
Sikh  | 2,032  | 0.3  | 0.9
Other religion  | 2,032  | 0.3  | 0.6
Not answered  | 35,214  | 5.2  | 6.0

### Ethnicity and Identity

[edit]

2021 Ethnicity of Tees Valley[11] Category  | Tees Valley CA  | England

|
|

Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh  | 4.4%  | 9.6%
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African  | 1.1%  | 4.2%
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups  | 1.3%  | 3%
White  | 92.1%  | 81%
Other ethnic group  | 1.1%  | 2.2%

## See also

[edit]

* Cleveland (county)
* Teesside
* Tees Valley
* Tees Valley Mayor

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ The percentage may not equal 0% in the census, but rather the value is too small to represent in the provided accuracy. It may also not be publicly released for data protection reasons if the sample is too small.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Senior Management Team". Tees Valley Combined Authority. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
2. ^ "New Statutory Combined Authority Proposed for Tees Valley, with Backing from Business". Teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
3. ^ "The Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
4. ^ "Elected mayors for north-east of England as devolution deal announced". BBC News. 23 October 2015.
5. ^ "Tees Valley joins the unstoppable momentum of Northern Powerhouse". gov.uk. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
6. ^ "Proposal for a Tees Valley Combined Authority enters its next phase". Teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
7. ^ Chris Cordner (17 July 2015). "Leaders talk up the Tees Valley in meeting with ministers". Hartlepool Mail. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
8. ^ "Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet". Tees Valley Combined Authority. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
9. ^ "TVCA Cabinet". Tees Valley Combined Authority. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
10. ^ "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
11. ^ a b "Build a custom area profile - Census 2021, ONS". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Tees Valley Unlimited LEP Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Combined authorities and combined county authorities in England

Legislation|

* Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009
* Localism Act 2011
* Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016
* Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023
* English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Current|

* Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (Mayor)
* Devon and Torbay
* East Midlands (Mayor)
* Greater Lincolnshire (Mayor)
* Greater Manchester (Mayor)
* Hull and East Yorkshire (Mayor)
* Lancashire
* Liverpool City Region (Mayor)
* North East (Mayor)
* South Yorkshire (Mayor)
* Tees Valley (Mayor)
* West of England (Mayor)
* West Midlands (Mayor)
* West Yorkshire (Mayor)
* York and North Yorkshire (Mayor)

Approved|

* Greater Essex
* Hampshire and the Solent

Proposed|

* Heart of Wessex

Defunct|

* North of Tyne (Mayor)
* North East (non-mayoral)

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