Tees Valley

Tees Valley is a strategic authority area in Northern England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley but could be considered to be based on the Tees flood plain. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees: this includes areas in both County Durham and North Yorkshire counties. The town of Middlesbrough is the largest population centre in the area. The borough of Middlesbrough is the smallest of the five, at only 54 square kilometres (21 sq mi) and a population of 156,161: the Stockton-on-Tees borough (including multiple towns) is the largest with an area of 205 square kilometres (79 sq mi) and a population of 206,800, as of 2024. From 1968 until 1974, parts of the area were included in the County Borough of Teesside council area. This was replaced by Cleveland county; it had four borough councils which became unitary authorities after the county was abolished in 1996. Darlington became a unitary authority in 1997; the five authorities formed a Local Enterprise Partnership in 2011, further collaboration between the five authorities lead to Tees Valley Combined Authority being created in 2016.