Tees Valley

The Tees Valley region does not have city status granted by the Crown. There are two central towns of Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees with Hartlepool, Redcar and Darlington also having boroughs. The Teesside conurbation excludes Darlington.

In common usage, the terms "Tees Valley", "Teesdale" ( west of the Valley), "Teesside" (urban areas) and "Cleveland" (east of the valley) are usually used interchangeably with each term more common than the others in the west of the valley, urban areas and east of the valley, respectively.

Archaically, the southern area was known as the Langbaurgh Wapentake given its name from Langbaugh which was close to the southern original meeting point for governance. Norton was the main north valley town. Middlesbrough and Stockton have since taken over from Langbaurgh and Norton.[3]

Map of the Tees Valley Region

The official region consists of the following 5 unitary authorities, each governed by a council:

Tees Valley is divided into seven and a part UK parliamentary borough constituencies, formed from the combined area of wards. Stockton is the only borough covered by two whole constituencies with all others holding one and a part except Hartlepool with one:

• Darlington
  • main
  • Sedgefield (shared with County Durham)
• Hartlepool
• Middlesbrough
  • main
  • Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (part)
• Redcar
  • main
  • Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (part)
• Stockton
  • North
  • South

Four constituencies are held by the Conservative Party after the 2019 general election, up by three since the 2017 general election. Labour hold the other three. Sedgefield's partial seat is also represented by a Conservative MP, as of the 2019 election.

Tees Valley is under the strategic local governance of a combined authority. The headquarters of the TVCA are at Cavendish House in Thornaby-On-Tees. Voters in the region covered by the Authority, announced in October 2015, directly elected their first regional Mayor in 2017.[4][5][6]

The Mayor of Tees Valley is a directly elected politician who, along with the Combined Authority, is responsible for the strategic government of Tees Valley.[7] There are other mayors for the boroughs of Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees.[8] Hartlepool also had a Mayor from 2002 to 2013.

The current, overarching, Tees Valley Mayor is Ben Houchen. His work is scrutinised by the elected TVCA, which may amend his annual budget (by two-thirds majority) but otherwise lacks the power to block his directives. The Mayor is responsible for Tees Valley's strategic planning and is required to produce or amend a plan for each electoral cycle.[9]

Two Lord Lieutenants (Durham and North Yorkshire) are appointed by the borough’s ceremonial counties.

The Tees Valley Enterprise Zone is an enterprise zone which encourages industrial development. It was initiated by the local enterprise partnership Tees Valley Unlimited and its creation was announced by the government in 2011. At its launch, the zone contained 12 sites. Four of these sites offer enhanced capital allowances, aimed at large manufacturers. These sites are Wilton International and South Bank Wharf, both in Redcar and Cleveland, Port Estates in Hartlepool and New Energy and Technology Park in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees. The remaining sites offer reduced business rates.[10] In March 2015 the government announced that a thirteenth site is to be added, South Bank Wharf Prairie, aimed at oil and gas decommissioning business.[11]

BOC plant on Teesside

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) operated here until the late 1990s on three chemical sites at Wilton, Billingham and Seal Sands. ICI was broken up, and its many chemical manufacturing units are now operated by a large number of companies that have acquired its assets. The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), a national innovation catapult, is based at the Wilton Centre, the former corporate headquarters of ICI, which has become a multi-company research and development centre: along with CPI there are now some 60 other companies, including the cluster body NEPIC, using these R&D and business development facilities. This centre is now one of Europe's largest R&D facilities focusing on developments in the chemistry-based process industries. The area is a chemicals processing area, but recently it has diversified to become the UK's leading site for renewable biofuel research. This industrial activity is taking place in a collaborative environment facilitated by the economic cluster body, the North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

Hartlepool has a nuclear power station, and there is a conventional CHP power station and a biomass power station operated by Sembcorp on the Wilton chemical site.Hereema Fabrication Group make North Sea platforms at the A1048/A179 roundabout in Hartlepool.

Wilton Engineering's 50 acre fabrication and maintenance site is in Port Clarence. Barker and Stonehouse make furniture north of Middlesbrough next to the A66/A178 junction. The Teesside Steelworks near Redcar has the biggest blast furnace in Europe and is operated by Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI). Tata Steel Europe operate a pipe works at Hartlepool, a heavy beam mill near Middlesbrough and a special sections mill at Skinningrove Steelworks. Able UK operate the biggest dry dock in the UK near Seaton Carew, Hartlepool where ships can be dismantled and oil rigs can be dismantled or refurbished.

The many chemistry-based businesses on Teesside[12] include Huntsman Tioxide plant at Greatham makes titanium dioxide. Huntsman's European headquarters are in Wynyard. Johnson Matthey Catalysts and Fujifilm Dyosynth Biologics have manufacturing units in Billingham while the Lucite International Acrylics factory and the Mitsubishi battery chemical plant are on the other side of the town. Exwold Technology operate their two extrusion and packaging facilities in Hartlepool. Banner Chemicals are adjacent to the A66 in Middlesbrough. Aldous Huxley's visit to the former ICI plant in Billingham inspired Brave New World and this unit now makes fertiliser for Growhow, using 1% of the UK's natural gas. SABIC perochemicals and polymers, Lotte Chemicals PET and PTA plants, Biffa recycled polymers, Huntsman polyurathanes and the Ensus Biofuels all operate at Wilton. ConocoPhillips refinery, BP Cats, Harvest Energy Biodiesel unit, Greenery Fuels, Fine Organics, Vertelus speciality chemicals and Ineos Nitriles are all based at Seal Sands, with Vopak and Simon Storage tank storage businesses nearby. Air Products are building two waste to energy units at Seal Sands, and Sita are upgrading their unit at Haverton Hill. Marlow Foods produce Quorn, and KP Snacks make McCoy's Crisps in Billingham. Santander UK's mortgages division is located in Thornaby-on-Tees. Tetley Tea have had their only tea bag factory in the UK at Eaglescliffe, in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, since 1969. It is the largest tea bag factory in the world and makes 18 billion tea bags a year. Its distribution centre is at nearby Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

Teesport

Teesport is on the River Tees and is currently the third largest port in the United Kingdom, and amongst the ten biggest in Western Europe, in terms of tonnage shipped. Its size is due to the local steel and chemical industries.

This port handles over 56 million tonnes of goods per annum which are mainly associated with the local petrochemical, chemical and steel processing industries.

The port is an important piece of logistical infrastructure for the NEPIC cluster of process companies.PD Ports, who own Teesport, is headquartered in Middlesbrough adjacent to Middlesbrough railway station.

Main

Road	Route	Notes
A1(M)	West of Darlington	A motorway standard stretch of the A1
A19	South for the rest of Yorkshire and North to Tyne and Wear.	Between Stockton & Middlesbrough, then Stockton & Hartlepool, as aproxoximate borough borders.
A66	Most of Tees Valley is served, terminating between Middlesbrough and Redcar, linking to Hartlepool via the A19, running to the west coast of England.	The road is motorway standard around Darlington.
A67	Darlington to Stockton	It is the main road for the airport, running adjacent to the railway, and was previously designated as the A66 from Darlington to Eaglescliffe and A19, Eaglescliffe southwards through Yarm.
A68	Darlington to Edinburgh	Runs west of Darlington.

Triple-digit roads

Road	From	To	Notes
A135 (Yarm Road)	Stockton-on-Tees	Egglescliffe
A139	Stockton-on-Tees	Billingham
A167	Topcliffe	Kenton Bar
A171	A66 as Cargo Fleet Lane	Scarborough	Until the road goes out of the region, it is also known as: Sunnyfields, Orchard Way, Ormesby Bank, Middlesbrough Road, Whitby Road, Fancy Bank, Birk Brow Road & Fancy Bank
A172	A66 as Marton Road, Middlesbrough	A19 as Stocking Hill	also known as Stokesley Road, Pannierman Lane & Dixons Bank
A173	A172 (Middlesbrough)	Skelton-in-Cleveland	Also known as Church Lane & Skelton Ellers.
A174	Thornaby-On-Tees	Whitby	As the road goes out of the region, it is known for a short stretch, as Apple Orchard Bank
A177	Stockton	Durham
A178	Middlesbrough	Hartlepool
A179	A19	Hartlepool

Bus

Most of the area is served by Stagecoach's Tees Flex network, a pre-bookable service running in and around the valley, mainly serving Stockton on Tees, Darlington and Redcar and Cleveland. Services are operated by a dedicated fleet of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibuses.

Stations The Tees Valley boroughs have multiple railway stations within their borders. Each borough head town has a station in and named after them, Redcar has two. The stations, by borough, are as follows:

• Darlington:
  • North Road, Dinsdale and Teesside Airport
• Hartlepool:
  • Seaton Carew
• Stockton:
  • Billingham, Allens West, Eaglescliffe, Thornaby and Yarm
• Middlesbrough:
  • James Cook and Marton
• Redcar (Central and East):
  • Gypsy Lane, Nunthorpe, South Bank, Longbeck, Marske and Saltburn.

Lines

Commuter rail services linked with lInes from Tees Valley to Durham and Tyne and Wear

• Darlington is connected to the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and provides fast connections to London and Edinburgh. From May 2018, the UK Government announced that the line was to be re-nationalised for the second time since privatisation in 1997.[13]

previously proposed Tees Valley Metro route showing most current stations in the region along with proposed stations not built at the present time

• Tees Valley line, serves most of the area and links to Darlington and Teesside Airport Station, with sections being the former Stockton & Darlington Railway.
• Durham Coast Line, connects Hartlepool, Stockton, Thornaby and Middlesbrough with the main line.
• Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line, connects Eaglescliffe and Yarm with Durham Coast Line.
• Esk Valley line: services most Middlesbrough stations

Services

Darlington railway station

York-based LNER serves the full length of the ECML and operates most of the stations on the route. Grand Central has linked Teesside with London since December 2007 with a non-stop from York onwards. It does not have electric trains, and uses the Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line and Durham Coast Line.

Local-service routes in the Tees Valley are provided by Northern, based in Manchester. TransPennine Express, also based in Manchester, has long-distance services from Middlesbrough to Manchester, via West Yorkshire.

Teesside International Airport serves the area and has a regular service from Amsterdam, Schiphol airport.[14]

Under the Northern League they is the North Riding Football League, founded in 2017 by a merger of the Teesside Football League and Eskvale & Cleveland League

Wearside League also host North Tees Teams mainly in Division One:

• Darlington Railway Athletic F.C. at Brinkburn Road, Darlington, County Durham
• Norton & Stockton Ancients F.C. at Norton Sports Complex, Norton, County Durham
• Darlington Town F.C. reserve team for Darlington FC, founded in 1908 (As Horden Colliery Welfare) play at Eastbourne Sports Complex, Darlington, County Durham
• FC Hartlepool, Hartlepool, County Durham

Wearside League Division two:

• Wynyard Village, Wynyard (Stockton), County Durham

As of the 2020–2021 season, there are nine Rugby Union Football Clubs in the region, Darlington Mowden Park is in the highest division compared to the rest of the clubs:

ECB PL’s North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League:

County Durham

• Darlington:
  • Darlington Cricket Club
  • Darlington Railway Athletic Cricket Club
  • Middleton St George
  • Haughton, Haughton-le-Skerne
• Hartlepool:
  • Hartlepool
  • Seaton Carew
  • Hartlepool Power Station
• Stockton North
  • Cowpen
  • Norton
  • Billingham Synthonia
  • Stockton

North Yorkshire

• Stockton South:
  • Durham Palatinates
  • Thornaby
  • Maltby
  • Yarm
• Middlesbrough:
  • Middlesbrough, Acklam Park
  • Smiths Dock
  • Normanby Hall
  • Marton
  • Guisborough
• Redcar & Cleveland
  • Redcar
  • Marske
  • Saltburn

• Tees Valley Mohawks
• Teesside Lions