Tees Valley Combined Authority
The Tees Valley highlighted within North East England
Type
Type
HousesUnicameral
Term limits
None
History
Founded1 April 2016
Leadership
Seats5 constituent members and chair
Elections
directly elected mayor since 2017
Meeting place
Cavendish House, Teesdale Business Park
Thornaby-on-Tees
Website
teesvalley-ca.gov.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in 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. It was proposed that a combined authority be established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.[1] 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.[2] It was announced in October 2015 that voters in the region covered by the Authority would directly elect a Mayor in 2017.[3][4]

History

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.[5]

A shadow combined authority was formed and chaired by Sue Jeffrey, Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.[6]

Membership

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.[7]

The membership of the combined authority is currently as follows:

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
Mike Young 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
Bob Cook Constituent Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Leader of the Council
Siobhan McArdle Non-constituent Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership Chairman of the LEP

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Tees Valley

See also

References

  1. ^ "New Statutory Combined Authority Proposed for Tees Valley, with Backing from Business". Teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  2. ^ "The Tees Valley Combined Authority Order 2016". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Elected mayors for north-east of England as devolution deal announced". BBC News. 23 October 2015.
  4. ^ "Tees Valley joins the unstoppable momentum of Northern Powerhouse". gov.uk. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Proposal for a Tees Valley Combined Authority enters its next phase". Teesvalleyunlimited.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  6. ^ Chris Cordner (17 July 2015). "Leaders talk up the Tees Valley in meeting with ministers". Hartlepool Mail. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet". Tees Valley Combined Authority. Retrieved 4 May 2019.

External links

Combined authorities in England
Categories