County Durham is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Durham, North East England. It covers the former non-metropolitan county and its seven districts: Durham (city), Easington, Sedgefield (borough), Teesdale, Wear Valley, Derwentside, and Chester-le-Street.[1] It is governed by Durham County Council and has 136 civil parishes.[2][3][4]
County Durham | |
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Unitary authority type district | |
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Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Country | England |
Region | North East England |
County | Durham |
Unitary Authority | 1 April 2009 |
Seat | Durham |
Government | |
• Type | Non-metropolitan district |
• Local Authority | Durham County Council |
• MPs | Mary Foy (L) Dehenna Davison (C) Paul Howell Grahame Morris (L) Kevan Jones (L) Richard Holden (C) |
Population (mid-2019 est.) | |
• Total | 530,094 (Ranked 8th) |
• Ethnicity | 98.2% White 1.8% Other |
Time zone | UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
Postcode | |
Dialling code | 0191 |
ISO 3166-2 | GB-DUR |
ONS code | 00EJ (ONS) E06000047 (GSS) |
Website | Council website |
The district is in a ceremonial county with three boroughs: Borough of Darlington, Borough of Hartlepool & Borough of Stockton-on-Tees (area north of the River Tees).
The area is 2,232.6 km2 (862 sq m).
The district was created on the 1 April 2009, following the merger of all the borough and districts (Excluding the boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees) which were already unitary authorities and the towns of Gateshead, Jarrow, South Shields and the city of Sunderland were already part of the Tyne and Wear metropolitan county from 1974.
The district has multiple hamlets and villages. Settlements with town status include Consett, Barnard Castle, Peterlee, Seaham, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Shildon, Chester-le-Street, Crook, Stanhope, Spennymoor, Ferryhill and Sedgefield while Durham is the only city in the district.
Following the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, the council is now under control of a coalition of the Liberal Democrats, Conservative Party, Independents and North East Party.
The district is bounded to the south-west by North Yorkshire and south-east by the boroughs of Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool. To the north-east of the district is the City of Sunderland and the Borough of Gateshead, to the north-west by Northumberland, Cumbria to the west.
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Unitary authorities | |
Major settlements |
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Topics |
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Unitary authorities of England | ||
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Districts |
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Councils |
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Local elections |
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Districts of North East England | ||
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County Durham | ||
Northumberland | ||
Tyne and Wear | ||
Teesside, North Yorkshire |