Borough of Darlington

Darlington is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of County Durham, north-east England. It borders the non-metropolitan county of County Durham to the north and west, Stockton-on-Tees to the east and North Yorkshire to the south along the line of the River Tees. The urban centre and the base of the borough is the town of Darlington. In 2011 it had a resident population of 106,000. The borough is a member of the Tees Valley combined authority area.

Council

The current borough boundaries were formed on 1 April 1974, by the creation of a new non-metropolitan district of Darlington by the Local Government Act 1972, covering the previous county borough of Darlington along with nearly all of Darlington Rural District (the Newton Aycliffe parts of which went to Sedgefield). It remained part of County Durham for administrative purposes until reconstituted as a unitary authority on 1 April 1997. For ceremonial purposes it remains part of County Durham, with whom it continues to share certain local services, such as Fire and Rescue and Police. It is included within the Tees Valley area for both cultural and regional government administration.

It is made up of 24 council wards, twenty within the town of Darlington itself, which are also covered by the Darlington parliamentary constituency and four rural wards of Heighington & Coniscliffe, Hurworth, Middleton St George and Sadberge & Whessoe (part of the Sedgefield parliamentary constituency.

As well as Darlington itself the borough includes the surrounding villages of:

• Archdeacon Newton
• Barmpton
• Beaumont Hill
• Bishopton
• Blackwell
• Brafferton
• Coatham Mundeville
• Denton
• Great Burdon
• Great Stainton
• Heighington
• High Coniscliffe
• Houghton Bank
• Houghton-le-Side
• Hurworth-on-Tees
• Hurworth Place
• Killerby
• Little Stainton
• Low Dinsdale
• Middleton One Row
• Middleton St George
• Neasham
• Oak Tree
• Piercebridge
• Redworth
• Sadberge
• Summerhouse
• Walworth Gate
• Walworth

It is also home to Durham Tees Valley Airport (previously known as Teesside International Airport), of which the borough council shares joint ownership with the other four Tees Valley councils and Peel Holdings.

The council operates a Leader and Cabinet model of political leadership although a group of local residents aimed to force a referendum on moving to a system with directly-elected executive Mayor. Their bid was unsuccessful.