Tees Valley Combined Authority
Strategic authority and combined authority in England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in North East 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. The area is divided between the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire and County Durham. It was proposed that a combined authority be established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.[2] It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration including the flagship Teesside Freeport.
Tees Valley Combined Authority | |
|---|---|
| |
| |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Unicameral |
Term limits | None |
| History | |
| Founded | 1 April 2016 |
| Leadership | |
Tom Bryant since June 2025 [1] | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | Tees Valley Mayor and 5 constituent authority members |
 | |
Political groups |
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| Elections | |
| Directly elected mayor since 2017 | |
Last election | 2 May 2024 |
Next election | 4 May 2028 |
| Meeting place | |
| Teesside Airport Business Suite, Teesside International Airport, Darlington, DL2 1NJ | |
| Website | |
teesvalley-ca | |
The Combined Authority was established on 1 April 2016, after Local Government Minister James Wharton MP signed the necessary Order.[3] It was announced in October 2015 that voters in the region covered by the Authority would directly elect a Mayor in 2017.[4][5]
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.[6]
A shadow combined authority was formed and chaired by Sue Jeffrey, Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.[7]
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.[8] 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:[9]
| 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 | |
Demographics
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[note 1] | 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% |
See also
Notes
- The percentage may not equal 0% in the census, but rather the value is too small to represent in the provided accuracy. It may also not be publicly released for data protection reasons if the sample is too small.