Borough of Darlington
The Borough of Darlington is a unitary authority and borough in County Durham, Northern England. The borough is named after the town of Darlington, and in 2011 had a population of 106,000. It is in the Tees Valley mayoralty. The borough borders three local authority areas; County Durham is to the north and west, Stockton-on-Tees to the east and North Yorkshire to the south, the River Tees forming the border for the latter. History. 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. Council. It is made up of 20 council wards, sixteen 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. 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. The political composition of the council, as of a May 2019 local elections, is Conservative 22;Labour 20; Liberal Democrats 3; Independent 3 and Green Party 2. Since then, one Labour  councillor has declared he is now an Independent. Settlements. As well as Darlington itself the borough includes the surrounding villages of: It is also home to Teesside International Airport (previously known as Durham Tees Valley Airport), of which the borough council shares joint ownership with the other four Tees Valley councils and Peel Holdings. 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. Freedom of the Borough. The following people and military units have received  the Freedom of the Borough of Darlington.