TheBorough of Hartlepool is aunitary authority area withborough status inCounty Durham, England. Hartlepool Borough Council became a unitary authority in 1996; it is independent fromDurham County Council. It is named after its largest settlement,Hartlepool, where the council is based. The borough also includes a rural area to the west of the town. The population of the borough at the 2021 census was 92,571, of which over 95% (87,995) lived in the built-up area of Hartlepool itself.
Since 2016 the council has been a member of theTees Valley Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly electedTees Valley Mayor since 2017. TheHartlepool constituency has been coterminous with the borough since 1983.
The neighbouring districts are theCounty Durham district andStockton-on-Tees; the borough also adjoinsRedcar and Cleveland across the mouth of theRiver Tees.
The town of Hartlepool was anancient borough, having been granted a charter byKing John in 1200.[5][6] It was reformed to become amunicipal borough in 1850. This borough covered the relatively small area now known as theHeadland, where the original town was located.[7]
The new town ofWest Hartlepool was laid out from the 1840s on land outside Hartlepool's historic borough boundaries, in the neighbouring parish ofStranton. A body ofimprovement commissioners was established to administer the new town in 1854.[8] The commissioners' district was enlarged in 1883 to includeSeaton Carew.[9] The commissioners were superseded in 1887, when West Hartlepool was incorporated as a separate borough.[10] In 1902 West Hartlepool was elevated to become acounty borough, making it independent fromDurham County Council.[11]
After several unification efforts starting in 1902, the two boroughs of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool merged into a single county borough called Hartlepool in 1967, also absorbing at the same time the neighbouring parish ofSeaton (being the residual rural part of the old parish of Seaton Carew) to provide coastal land for industrial development.[12][13]
The borough was reformed and enlarged on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the previous county borough of Hartlepool, along with the parishes ofBrierton,Claxton,Dalton Piercy,Elwick, Elwick Hall,Greatham,Hart andNewton Bewley, from the Stockton Rural District, all of which had been part of theadministrative county ofDurham. The enlarged borough was transferred at the same time from County Durham to the new non-metropolitan county ofCleveland.[14]
Cleveland was abolished in 1996 following theBanham Review, which gave unitary authority status to its four districts, including Hartlepool. The way this change was implemented was to create a newnon-metropolitan county of Hartlepool covering the same area as the existing borough, but with no separate county council; instead the existing borough council took on county functions, making it a unitary authority. The borough was restored to County Durham forceremonial purposes at the same time, but as a unitary authority it is independent from Durham County Council.[15] Hartlepool continues to share certain local services with the other former Cleveland boroughs, including theCleveland Police andCleveland Fire Brigade.
Hartlepool Borough Council | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Denise McGuckin since 7 September 2020[18] | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 36 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Joint committees | Tees Valley Combined Authority |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 7 May 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Civic Centre, Victoria Road, Hartlepool, TS24 8AY | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Hartlepool Borough Council provides bothcounty-level anddistrict-level services. There are also ninecivil parishes in the borough, which form a second tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the borough is anunparished area.[20]
Since 2016 the council has been a member of theTees Valley Combined Authority.[21]
In May 2021, the fourparish councils ofElwick,Hart,Dalton Piercy andGreatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to re-join County Durham.[22] Subsequently, quarterly parish liaison meetings were set up between the parish and borough councils, and a new Parish Charter was adopted.[23]
The council has been underLabour majority control sincethe May 2024 local elections.[24]
Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:[25][26]
Non-metropolitan district
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 1974–1976 | |
| No overall control | 1976–1979 | |
| Labour | 1979–1996 | |
Unitary authority
| Party in control | Years | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 1996–2000 | |
| No overall control | 2000–2004 | |
| Labour | 2004–2008 | |
| No overall control | 2008–2010 | |
| Labour | 2010–2019 | |
| No overall control | 2019–2024 | |
| Labour | 2024–present | |
Since 2013 the role of mayor has been largely ceremonial in Hartlepool. Political leadership is instead provided by theleader of the council.
Between 2002 and 2013, Hartlepool was one of a small number of councils in the United Kingdom to have adirectly elected mayor. This followed a referendum held in the borough in October 2001.[27] Thefirst mayoral election was held in May 2002, and became famous for being won by the mascot ofHartlepool United F.C., 'H'Angus the Monkey',[28] with a majority of approximately 500 over the second-placedLabour Party candidate. The man inside the monkey costume,Stuart Drummond, served as mayor as anindependent, being re-elected in 2005 with a majority of over 10,000[29] and again in 2009 with a second round majority of 844.
In November 2012 Hartlepool voted in a referendum to abolish the directly elected mayor and return to having a leader of the council, as it had done prior to 2002, being the leadership model used by most English councils.[30] 7,366 voted against the directly elected mayor system, while 5,177 voted to retain it, on aturnout of 18%.[30]
The leaders from 1985 to 2002 were:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryan Hanson[31] | Labour | May 1985 | ||
| Ray Waller[32][33] | Labour | May 1985 | May 1988 | |
| Bill Emerson[33] | Labour | May 1988 | May 1990 | |
| Ray Waller[34][35] | Labour | May 1990 | May 1991 | |
| Bryan Hanson[35][36] | Labour | May 1991 | 21 May 1998 | |
| Ray Waller[36][37][38] | Labour | 21 May 1998 | May 1999 | |
| Russell Hart[37][39][40] | Labour | May 1999 | 25 May 2000 | |
| Arthur Preece[39][41] | Liberal Democrats | 25 May 2000 | 5 May 2002 | |
The directly elected mayor was:[a]
| Mayor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuart Drummond[28][43] | Independent | 6 May 2002 | 5 May 2013 | |
The leaders since 2013 have been:
| Councillor | Party | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Akers-Belcher[44][45] | Labour | 2 May 2013 | 21 May 2019 | |
| Shane Moore[46][47] | Independent Union | 21 May 2019 | 12 Sep 2019 | |
| Brexit Party[48] | 12 Sep 2019 | 31 Jan 2020 | ||
| Independent Union[49] | 31 Jan 2020 | 16 May 2023 | ||
| Mike Young[50][51] | Conservative | 16 May 2023 | 21 May 2024 | |
| Brenda Harrison[24] | Labour | 21 May 2024 | ||
Following the2024 election,[19] and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to July 2025, the composition of the council was:[52]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 22 | |
| Conservative | 5 | |
| Reform | 3 | |
| Independent Union | 1 | |
| Independent | 5 | |
| Total | 36 | |
The next election is due in May 2026.[52]
Since the last boundary changes in 2020 the council has comprised 36councillors representing 12wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office.[53]
The council is based at the Civic Centre on Victoria Road.[54] It was completed in 1976,[55] and was formally opened byElizabeth II on 14 July 1977.[56] Prior to moving to the Civic Centre, the council was based at the Municipal Buildings on Church Square, which had been built in 1889 for the old West Hartlepool Borough Council.[57] Before the 1967 merger the old Hartlepool Borough Council had been based atHartlepool Borough Hall on Middlegate.
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Settlements in the borough include:
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991[58] | 2001[59] | 2011[60] | 2021[61] | |||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | 89,765 | 99.3% | 87,569 | 98.8% | 89,899 | 97.7% | 89,068 | 96.4% |
| White:British | – | – | 86,874 | 98% | 88,924 | 96.6% | 87,761 | 95.0% |
| White:Irish | – | – | 235 | 193 | 170 | 0.2% | ||
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | 40 | 37 | 0.0% | |
| White: Roma | 19 | 0.0% | ||||||
| White:Other | – | – | 460 | 742 | 1,081 | 1.2% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Total | 486 | 0.5% | 602 | 0.7% | 1,304 | 1.4% | 1,600 | 1.7% |
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | 160 | 187 | 266 | 335 | 0.4% | |||
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | 106 | 204 | 291 | 297 | 0.3% | |||
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | 73 | 73 | 214 | 278 | 0.3% | |||
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | 94 | 110 | 229 | 217 | 0.2% | |||
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | 53 | 28 | 304 | 473 | 0.5% | |||
| Black or Black British: Total | 78 | – | 70 | – | 170 | 0.2% | 445 | 0.6% |
| Black or Black British:African | 31 | – | 36 | – | 36 | 327 | 0.4% | |
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | 21 | – | 16 | – | 129 | 57 | 0.1% | |
| Black or Black British:Other Black | 26 | – | 18 | – | 5 | 61 | 0.1% | |
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | 311 | 0.4% | 550 | 0.6% | 671 | 0.8% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | 85 | – | 180 | 143 | 0.2% | |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | 34 | – | 54 | 115 | 0.1% | |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | 94 | – | 173 | 240 | 0.3% | |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | 98 | – | 143 | 173 | 0.2% | |
| Other: Total | 80 | – | 59 | – | 105 | 0.1% | 554 | 0.6% |
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | 57 | 270 | 0.3% | |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | 80 | – | 59 | – | 48 | 284 | 0.3% | |
| Total | 90,409 | 100% | 88,611 | 100% | 92,028 | 100% | 92,338 | 100% |
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