County of England
Metropolitan and ceremonial county in England
Tyne and Wear (/ˌ t aɪ n ˈ w ɪər ceremonial county inNorth East England . It bordersNorthumberland to the north andCounty Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city ofNewcastle upon Tyne .
The county is largely urbanised, with a population of 1.14 million in 2021. After Newcastle, the largest settlements are the city ofSunderland ,Gateshead , andSouth Shields . Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to theTyneside orWearside conurbations, the latter of which extends into County Durham. For local government purposes Tyne and Wear comprises fivemetropolitan boroughs :Gateshead , Newcastle upon Tyne,Sunderland ,North Tyneside andSouth Tyneside . The borough councils collaborate through theNorth East Combined Authority , which also includesDurham County Council andNorthumberland County Council . The county was created in 1974 from south-east Northumberland and north-east County Durham.
The most notable geographic features of the county are theRiver Tyne andRiver Wear , after which it is named and along which its major settlements developed. The county is also notable for its coastline to theNorth Sea in the east, which is characterised by talllimestone cliffs and wide beaches.
In the late 600s and into the 700s St.Bede lived as a monk at the monastery of St. Peter and of St. Paul writing histories of theEarly Middle Ages including theEcclesiastical History of the English People .[ 3]
Roughly 150 years ago, in the village ofMarsden inSouth Shields ,Souter Lighthouse was built, the first electric structure of this type.[ 4]
The Local Government Act 1888 constitutedNewcastle upon Tyne ,Gateshead andSunderland ascounty boroughs (Newcastle had "county corporate " status as the "County and Town of Newcastle upon Tyne" since 1400).Tynemouth joined them in 1904. Between the county boroughs, various other settlements also formed part of the administrative counties ofDurham and ofNorthumberland .
The need to reform local government on Tyneside was recognised by the government as early as 1935, when aRoyal Commission to Investigate the Conditions of Local Government on Tyneside was appointed.[ 5]
examine the system of local government in the areas of local government north and south of the river Tyne from the sea to the boundary of the Rural District of Castle Ward and Hexham in the County of Northumberland and to the Western boundary of the County of Durham, to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the existing arrangements with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency, and to make recommendations.
Population density map The report of the Royal Commission, published in 1937,[ 6] [ 7]
A minority report proposed amalgamation of Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jarrow, Felling, Gosforth, Hebburn and Newburn into a single "county borough of Newcastle-on-Tyneside". The 1937 proposals never came into operation: local authorities could not agree on a scheme and the legislation of the time did not allow central government to compel one.[ 8]
Tyneside (excludingSunderland ) was aspecial review area under theLocal Government Act 1958 . TheLocal Government Commission for England came back with a recommendation to create a new county of Tyneside based on the review area, divided into four separate boroughs. This was not implemented. TheRedcliffe-Maud Report proposed a Tynesideunitary authority , again excluding Sunderland, which would have set up a separate East Durham unitary authority.
The white paper that led to theLocal Government Act 1972 proposed as "area 2" a metropolitan county including Newcastle and Sunderland, extending as far south down the coast as Seaham and Easington, and bordering "area 4" (which would becomeTees Valley ). The Bill as presented in November 1971 pruned back the southern edge of the area, and gave it the name "Tyneside". The name "Tyneside" proved controversial onWearside , and a government amendment changed the name to "Tyne and Wear" at the request of Sunderland County Borough Council.[ 9]
Tyne and Wear either has or closely borders two officialMet Office stations, neither located in one of the major urban centres. The locations for those are inTynemouth , where the river Tyne meets the North Sea, east of Newcastle; and inland atDurham , around 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Sunderland. There are some clear differences between the two stations' temperature and precipitation patterns, even though both have a cool-summer and mild-winteroceanic climate .
Climate data for Tynemouth 33 m asl, 1981–2010 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 7.2 7.3 9.0 10.3 12.7 15.6 18.1 18.1 16.1 13.2 9.7 6.4 12.1 Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 2.2 2.2 3.3 4.8 7.2 10.0 12.3 12.3 10.4 7.7 4.9 2.5 6.7 Averageprecipitation mm (inches) 45.5 37.8 43.9 45.4 43.2 51.9 47.6 59.6 53.0 53.6 62.8 53.9 597.2 Mean monthlysunshine hours 61.1 81.6 117.7 149.9 191.7 183.0 185.7 174.9 174.1 106.2 70.4 51.9 1,515 Source:Met Office [ 10]
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 16.3 17.4 21.8 24.1 29.0 30.4 36.9 32.5 30.0 25.3 19.3 15.9 36.9 Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 6.9 7.8 9.9 12.5 15.4 18.0 20.2 19.9 17.4 13.5 9.7 7.1 13.2 Daily mean °C (°F) 4.1 4.6 6.2 8.3 10.9 13.6 15.8 15.6 13.3 10.0 6.6 4.2 9.5 Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.3 1.4 2.5 4.1 6.5 9.3 11.3 11.3 9.2 6.5 3.6 1.4 5.7 Record low °C (°F) −16.9 −18.0 −15.0 −11.1 −4.8 −0.8 1.4 0.0 −1.7 −5.3 −12.0 −16.4 −18.0 Averageprecipitation mm (inches) 51.8 44.6 41.1 51.2 44.4 61.0 60.9 66.5 56.9 63.4 73.0 61.0 675.7 Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) 11.8 9.9 8.6 9.1 8.6 9.9 10.7 10.3 9.4 11.8 12.0 12.0 124.1 Mean monthlysunshine hours 60.9 84.4 121.7 160.8 187.1 167.1 174.3 167.3 135.3 98.9 64.6 57.6 1,480 Source 1: Met Office[ 12] Source 2: Durham Weather[ 13] [ 14] [ 15]
Tyne and Wear containsgreen belt interspersed throughout the county, mainly on the fringes of theTyneside /Wearside conurbation. There is also an inter-urban line of belt helping to keep the districts of South Tyneside, Gateshead, and Sunderland separated. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
This section needs to beupdated . Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2024 )
AlthoughTyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986, severaljoint bodies Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority , which co-ordinates transport policy. Through itspassenger transport executive , known asNexus , it owns and operates theTyne and Wear Metro light rail system, theShields Ferry service and theTyne Tunnel , linking communities on either side of the River Tyne. Also through Nexus, the authority subsidises socially necessary transport services (including taxis) and operates a concessionary fares scheme for the elderly and disabled. Nexus has been an executive body of theNorth East Joint Transport Committee since November 2018.
Other joint bodies include theTyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service andTyne & Wear Archives & Museums , which was created from the merger of theTyne and Wear Archives Service andTyne and Wear Museums . These joint bodies are administered by representatives of all five of the constituent councils. In addition theNorthumbria Police force coversNorthumberland and Tyne and Wear.
There have been occasional calls for Tyne and Wear to be abolished and the traditional border between Northumberland and County Durham to be restored.[ 16] [ 17]
Tyne and Wear is divided into 12parliamentary constituencies . Historically, the area has been a Labour stronghold; South Shields is the only Parliamentary constituency that has never returned aConservative Member of Parliament (MP) to theHouse of Commons since theReform Act of 1832 .
General Election 2019 : Tyne and Wear Labour Liberal Democrats Conservative Brexit Others Green Turnout 247,317 36,417 160,155 47,142 10,504 16,010 517,545
Overall Number of seats as of 2019 Labour Liberal Democrats Conservative BNP UKIP Others Green 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
At the level oflocal government , all of the region's fiveunitary authorities were controlled by Labour in 2019.
Newcastle and Sunderland are known for declaring their election results early on election night.[ 18]
Commuter rail services in the region Italics indicate the district centre.For a complete list of all villages, towns and cities see thelist of places in Tyne and Wear .
Two campuses ofSunderland University are in Sunderland, while Newcastle contains the two campuses ofNorthumbria University as well as theNewcastle University main campus.
Gateshead Joint Gateshead and other Newcastle North Tyneside South Tyneside Sunderland
Newcastle Brown Ale – theyen an anny (which means "the one and only" in Tyneside dialect.) Offshore Group Newcastle makeoil platforms .Sage Group , who produceaccounting software , are based atHazlerigg at the northern end of the Newcastle bypass.Northern Rock , which became a bank in 1997 and was taken over byVirgin Money in November 2011, and theNewcastle Building Society are based inGosforth . The Gosforth-based bakeryGreggs now has over 1,500 shops. The Balliol Business Park inLongbenton containsProcter & Gamble research and global business centres and atax credits call centre forHMRC , and is the former home ofFindus UK. The GovernmentNational Insurance Contributions Office in Longbenton, demolished and replaced in 2000, had a 1 mile (1.6 km) long corridor.[citation needed
Be-Ro and theGo-Ahead Group bus company are in central Newcastle.Nestlé use the former Rowntrees chocolate factory on the east of the A1.BAE Systems Land & Armaments inScotswood , formerlyVickers-Armstrongs , is the main producer ofBritish Army tanks such as theChallenger 2 . A Rolls-Royce apprentice training site is next door.[ 19] Siemens Energy Service Fossil makesteam turbines at theCA Parsons Works inSouth Heaton . SirCharles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and developed an important local company.Domestos , a product whose main ingredient issodium hypochlorite , was originated in Newcastle in 1929 by William Handley, and was distributed from the area for many years.
Clarke Chapman is next to theA167 in Gateshead. TheMetroCentre , the largest shopping centre in Europe, is inDunston .Scottish & Newcastle was the largest UK-owned brewery until it was bought by Heineken and Carlsberg in April 2008, and producedNewcastle Brown Ale at the Newcastle Federation Brewery in Dunston until production moved toTadcaster in September 2010. AtTeam Valley areDe La Rue , with their largest banknote printing facility, andMyson Radiators , the second largest in the UK market.Petards make surveillance equipment includingANPR cameras, and itsJoyce-Loebl division makeselectronic warfare systems andcountermeasure dispensing systems such as theAN/ALE-47 .Sevcon , an international company formed from a part of Smith Electric, is a world leader in electric vehicle controls.AEI Cables andKomatsu UK construction equipment at Birtley.
J. Barbour & Sons make outdoor clothing inSimonside , Jarrow.SAFT Batteries make primarylithium batteries on the Tyne in South Shields.Bellway plc houses is inSeaton Burn inNorth Tyneside .Cobalt Business Park , the largest office park in the UK, is atWallsend , on the former site ofAtmel , and is the home of North Tyneside Council.Swan Hunter until 2006 made ships in Wallsend, and still designs ships.Soil Machine Dynamics in Wallsend on the Tyne makesRemotely operated underwater vehicles , and itsUltra Trencher 1 is the world's largest submersible robot.[citation needed
Nissan UK off theA19 nearSunderland Thecar dealership Evans Halshaw is in Sunderland. The car factory owned byNissan Motor Manufacturing UK betweenNorth Hylton andWashington is the largest in the UK.Grundfos , the world's leading pump manufacturer, builds pumps in Sunderland.Calsonic Kansei UK, formerlyMagna , make automotiveinstrument panels andcar trim at thePennywell Industrial Estate.Gestamp UK make automotive components.Smith Electric Vehicles originated in Washington. TheLG Electronics microwave oven factory opened in 1989, closed in May 2004, and later became the site of theTanfield Group .Goodyear Dunlop had their only UK car tyre factory next to the Tanfield site until its 2006 closure. BAE SystemsGlobal Combat Systems moved to a new £75 million factory at the former Goodyear site in 2011, where they make large calibre ammunition for tanks and artillery.
The government'schild benefit office is in Washington.Liebherr build cranes next to the Wear atDeptford . The outdoor clothing companyBerghaus is inCastletown .Vaux Breweries , who ownedSwallow Hotels , closed in 1999.ScS Sofas are on Borough Road. There are many call centres in Sunderland, notablyEDF Energy at theDoxford International Business Park , which is also the home of the headquarters of the large international transport companyArriva andNike UK . Rolls-Royce planned to move their production offan and turbine discs to BAE Systems' new site in 2016.[needs update
Population of Tyne and Wear by district (2022)[ 20] District Land area Population Density2 ) (km2 ) (%) People (%) Gateshead 142 197,722 1,389 Newcastle upon Tyne 113 307,565 2,711 North Tyneside 82 210,487 2,558 South Tyneside 64 148,667 2,308 Sunderland 137 277,354 2,018 Tyne and Wear 540 100% 1,141,795 100%
Ethnic Group Year 1981 estimates[ 21] 1991 census[ 22] Number % Number % White : Total1,140,786 98.8% 1,109,420 98.1% White:British – – – – White:Irish – – – – White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller – – – – White: Roma – – – – White:Other – – – – Asian or Asian British : Total10,591 0.9% 16,048 1.4% Asian or Asian British:Indian 3,311 4,477 Asian or Asian British:Pakistani 2,914 4,029 Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi 1,313 2,959 Asian or Asian British:Chinese 1,995 2,867 Asian or Asian British: Other Asian 1,058 1,716 Black or Black British : Total1,769 2,253 Black or Black British:African 711 899 Black or Black British:Caribbean 379 478 Black or Black British:Other Black 679 876 Mixed or British Mixed : Total– – – – Mixed: White and Black Caribbean – – – – Mixed: White and Black African – – – – Mixed: White and Asian – – – – Mixed: Other Mixed – – – – Other: Total 1,956 2,679 Other: Arab – – – – Other: Any other ethnic group – – Non-White: Total 14,314 1.2% 20,980 1.9% Total 1,155,100 100% 1,130,400 100%
^ "Mid-2022 population estimates by Lieutenancy areas (as at 1997) for England and Wales" .Office for National Statistics . 24 June 2024. Retrieved26 June 2024 .^ "2011 census: Ethnic group (detailed)" .Office for National Statistics .Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved19 May 2018 .^ "The Venerable Bede – England's first great historian" .British Heritage . 29 October 2020. Retrieved8 March 2021 .^ "Five of England's less-visited counties for days out and short breaks" .Guardian . 6 March 2021. Retrieved8 March 2021 .^ London Gazette , 10 May 1935^ Local Government in the Tyneside Area (Cmd.5402) ^ Government of Tyneside : a Regional Council. The Times. 19 March 1937. ^ Local Government on Tyneside. Sir K. Wood and Report of Commission. The Times. 22 September 1937. ^ Hansard, 6 July 1972, column 909 ^ "Tynemouth climate information" .Met Office .Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved13 August 2015 .^ "Durham" .CEDA Archive .Natural Centre for Environmental Data Analysis. Retrieved25 July 2024 .^ "Durham (Durham) UK climate averages" .Met Office . 1991–2020. Retrieved1 January 2022 .^ Burt, Stephen; Burt, Tim (2022).Durham Weather and Climate since 1841 . Retrieved25 July 2024 . ^ Tim Burt."The weather at Durham in 2022" .Durham Weather . Durham University. Retrieved25 July 2024 . ^ Tim Burt."The weather at Durham in 2023" .Durham Weather . Durham University. Retrieved25 July 2024 . ^ "Call to return the county to its historic status" .Northumberland Gazette ^ Henderson, Tony (3 January 2019)."Are there signs that our traditional county boundaries are set to return?" .Evening Chronicle ^ Rodger, James (8 June 2017)."Why Sunderland and Newcastle always declare election results first" .birminghammail . ^ "RRTEC" . Rrnetc.co.uk. Archived fromthe original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved12 June 2012 .^ "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022" .Office for National Statistics . Retrieved3 May 2024 .^ Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 - Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration ISBN 978-0-11-691655-6 {{cite book }}: CS1 maint: others (link )^ Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 - Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration ISBN 978-0-11-691655-6 {{cite book }}: CS1 maint: others (link )
Metropolitan districts Major settlements Topics
54°58′26″N 1°36′48″W / 54.974°N 1.6132°W /54.974; -1.6132
.jpg)
.svg){kind=icon}
.jpg)
.jpg)
