Tees Valley Combined Authority
Strategic authority and combined authority in England
The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley strategic authority area in North East England. It consists of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration including the flagship Teesside Freeport.
The strategic authority governs a population of approximately 700,000 people. Its area is divided between the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire and County Durham.
The strategic authority was established on 1 April 2016, after Local Government Minister James Wharton MP signed the necessary Order. It was first proposed that a combined authority be established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It was announced in October 2015 that voters in the region covered by the Authority would directly elect a Mayor in 2017.
01History
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.
A shadow combined authority was formed and chaired by Sue Jeffrey, Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.
02Membership
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. The mayor is a member of the Mayoral Council for England and the Council of the Nations and Regions.
As of June 2026, the composition of the combined authority was:
| 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 | |
| Graham Harrison | 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 | |
| Lisa Evans | Constituent | Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council | Leader of the Council | |
| Matthew Ord | Non-constituent | Tees Valley Combined Authority Business Board | Chair of the TVCA Business Board | |
03Demographics
Population
| District | Land area | Population | Density (/km2) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (km2) | (%) | People | (%) | ||
| Darlington | 197 | 25% | 112,489 | 16% | 570 |
| Hartlepool | 94 | 12% | 98,180 | 14% | 1,048 |
| Middlesbrough | 54 | 7% | 156,161 | 22% | 2,898 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 245 | 31% | 139,228 | 20% | 568 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 205 | 26% | 206,800 | 29% | 1,009 |
| Tees Valley | 795 | 100% | 712,858 | 100% | 897 |
Religion
| Religion | Tees Valley CA (Approximate) | England % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capita | % | ||
| No religion | 264,108 | 39.0 | 36.7 |
| Christian | 343,340 | 50.7 | 46.3 |
| Buddhist | 2,032 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Hindu | 3,386 | 0.5 | 1.8 |
| Jewish | , | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Muslim | 25,734 | 3.8 | 6.7 |
| Sikh | 2,032 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Other religion | 2,032 | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Not answered | 35,214 | 5.2 | 6.0 |
Ethnicity and Identity
| Category | Tees Valley CA | England |
|---|---|---|
| Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh | 4.4% | 9.6% |
| Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African | 1.1% | 4.2% |
| Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups | 1.3% | 3% |
| White | 92.1% | 81% |
| Other ethnic group | 1.1% | 2.2% |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tees Valley Combined Authority”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Tees Valley Combined Authority.svg by DrFrench, CC BY-SA 4.0
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