The Borough of Hartlepool is a local government district with borough status in County Durham, England. Since 1996 Hartlepool Borough Council has been a unitary authority, which gives it both district-level and county-level functions; it is independent of Durham 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.
The town of Hartlepool was an ancient borough, having been granted a charter by King John in 1200.[2][3] It was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1850. This borough covered the relatively small area now known as the Headland, where the original town was located.[4]
The new town of West Hartlepool was laid out from the 1840s on land outside Hartlepool's historic borough boundaries, in the neighbouring parish of Stranton. A body of improvement commissioners was established to administer the new town in 1854.[5] The commissioners' district was enlarged in 1883 to include Seaton Carew.[6] The commissioners were superseded in 1887, when West Hartlepool was incorporated as a separate borough.[7] In 1902 West Hartlepool was elevated to become a county borough, making it independent from Durham County Council.[8]
After several unification efforts starting in 1902, the two boroughs of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool merged into a single county borough in 1967, also absorbing at the same time the neighbouring parish of Seaton (being the residual rural part of the old parish of Seaton Carew) to provide coastal land for industrial development.[9][10]
The borough was reformed and enlarged on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the previous county borough of Hartlepool, along with the parishes of Brierton, Claxton, Dalton Piercy, Elwick, Elwick Hall, Greatham, Hart and Newton Bewley, from the Stockton Rural District, all of which had been part of the administrative county of Durham. The enlarged borough was transferred at the same time from County Durham to the new non-metropolitan county of Cleveland.[11]
Cleveland was abolished in 1996 following the Banham Review, which gave unitary authority status to its four districts, including Hartlepool. The borough was restored to County Durham for ceremonial purposes at the same time, but as a unitary authority it is independent from Durham County Council.[12] Hartlepool continues to share certain local services with the other former Cleveland boroughs, including the Cleveland Police and Cleveland Fire Brigade.
Hartlepool Borough Council provides both county-level and district-level services. There are also nine civil parishes in the borough, which form a second tier of local government for their areas; the rest of the borough is an unparished area.[15]
In May 2021, the four parish councils of Elwick, Hart, Dalton Piercy and Greatham all issued individual votes of no confidence in Hartlepool Borough Council, and expressed their desire to re-join County Durham.[17] Subsequently quarterly parish liaison meetings were set up between the parish and borough councils, and a new Parish Charter was adopted.[18]
Since 2013 the role of mayor has been largely ceremonial in Hartlepool. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council.
Between 2002 and 2013, Hartlepool was one of a small number of councils in the United Kingdom to have a directly elected mayor. This followed a referendum held in the borough in October 2001.[22] The first mayoral election was held in May 2002, and became famous for being won by the mascot of Hartlepool United F.C., 'H'Angus the Monkey',[23] with a majority of approximately 500 over the second-placed Labour Party candidate. The man inside the monkey costume, Stuart Drummond, served as mayor as an independent, being re-elected in 2005 with a majority of over 10,000[24] 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.[25] 7,366 voted against the directly elected mayor system, while 5,177 voted to retain it, on a turnout of 18%.[25]
The Conservatives, five of the six independent councillors, and the Independent Union councillor sit together as the "Conservative and Coalition Group" which forms the council's administration.[34] The next election is due in May 2024.
Since the last boundary changes in 2020 the council has comprised 36 councillors representing 12 wards, 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.[35]
Premises
The council is based at the Civic Centre on Victoria Road, which was built in the 1970s.[36] Prior to that it was based at the Municipal Buildings on Church Square, which had been built in 1889 for the old West Hartlepool Borough Council.[37] Before the 1967 merger the old Hartlepool Borough Council had been based at Hartlepool Borough Hall on Middlegate.
Municipal Buildings, Church Square: Built 1889 for West Hartlepool Borough Council
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