# Tees Valley Combined Authority

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. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration including the flagship Teesside Freeport.
The Combined Authority was established on 1 April 2016, after Local Government Minister James Wharton MP signed the necessary Order. It was announced in October 2015 that voters in the region covered by the Authority would directly elect a Mayor in 2017.

## 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.
A shadow combined authority was formed and chaired by Sue Jeffrey, Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

## 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. The mayor is a member of the Mayoral Council for England and the Council of the Nations and Regions.
As of June 2024, 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 |
| Brenda 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 |
| Bob Cook | Constituent | Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council | Leader of the Council |
| Siobhan McArdle | Non-constituent | Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership | Chairman of the LEP |

## Demographics
### Population

Population of Tees Valley by district (2022) :
| District | Land area | Land area | Population | Population | Density (/km$^2$) |
| District | (km$^2$) | (%) | People | (%) | Density (/km$^2$) |
| Darlington | 197 | 25% | 109,469 | 16% | 554 |
| Hartlepool | 94 | 12% | 93,861 | 14% | 1,002 |
| Middlesbrough | 54 | 7% | 148,285 | 22% | 2,752 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 245 | 31% | 137,175 | 20% | 560 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 205 | 26% | 199,966 | 29% | 976 |
| Tees Valley | 795 | 100% | 688,756 | 100% | 866 |

### Religion

2021 Religious Data :
| Religion | Tees Valley CA (Approximate) | Tees Valley CA (Approximate) | England % |
| Religion | Capita | % | England % |
| 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

2021 Ethnicity of Tees Valley :
| 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% |