Darlington is a local government district and borough in North East England. In 2003 it had a resident population of 98,210. It borders County Durham to the north and west, North Yorkshire to the south along the line of the River Tees, and Stockton-on-Tees to the east.
Traditionally part of County Durham, 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 until gaining "independence" 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:
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 currently operates a Leader and Cabinet model of political leadership although a group of local residents is aiming to force a referendum on moving to a system with directly-elected executive Mayor[1].
The political composition of the council (as at 22 October 2006) is Labour 34; Conservative 14; LibDem 3 and Independent 2.
[edit] Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Darlington at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added4 | Agriculture1 | Industry2 | Services3 |
| 1995 | 1,115 | 8 | 377 | 729 |
| 2000 | 1,192 | 6 | 417 | 768 |
| 2003 | 1,538 | 6 | 561 | 971 |
Note 1: includes hunting and forestry
Note 2: includes energy and construction
Note 3: includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Note 4: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
[edit] References
- ^ "Pro-mayor group halfway to securing a referendum". The Northern Echo. 2006-08-29. http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/search/display.var.896713.0.promayor_group_halfway_to_securing_a_referendum.php. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
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