Durham County Council

Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions previously carried out by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions. The boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs, independent from Durham County Council. The county council was elected by and provided services to the rest of the county, which area was termed the administrative county.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1888|year=1888|chapter=41|access-date=4 March 2024}}

Additional county boroughs were later created at West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. In 1967 West Hartlepool merged with the neighbouring borough of Hartlepool (which had just covered the old town), with the enlarged county borough thereafter being called Hartlepool. Stockton-on-Tees, Billingham and surrounding areas were removed from the administrative county in 1968 to become part of the County Borough of Teesside.

File:Durham Crown Court, December 2020.jpg

The first elections took place in January 1889 and the county council formally came into being on 1 April 1889. On that day its first official meeting was held at the old Shire Hall on Old Elvet in Durham, the courthouse (built 1811) which had served as the meeting place of the quarter sessions which preceded the county council.{{NHLE|num=1322878|desc= Crown Court|grade=II*|access-date=5 March 2024}} The first chairman of the council was John Lloyd Wharton, who was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ripon (in Yorkshire); he had also been chairman of the Durham Quarter Sessions since 1871.{{cite news |title=Durham County Council |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=5 March 2024 |work=The Shields Daily Gazette |date=2 April 1889 |location=South Shields |page=3}}

Durham was the first county council to be controlled by the Labour Party, which won the most seats in 1919.

In 1974, the county was redesignated as a non-metropolitan county under the Local Government Act 1972. As part of those reforms the county ceded territory in the north-east to the new county of Tyne and Wear and in the south-east to the new county of Cleveland, but gained the former Startforth Rural District covering the part of Teesdale south of the River Tees from the North Riding of Yorkshire, and Darlington was brought back under the county council's control.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|access-date=5 March 2024}}

Until 1974, the lower tier of local government comprised numerous boroughs, urban districts and rural districts. The districts were also reorganised in 1974 into eight non-metropolitan districts: Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Durham, Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|access-date=31 May 2023}}{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|access-date=31 May 2023}}

In 1997, Darlington became a unitary authority, removing it from county council control.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Durham (Borough of Darlington) (Structural Change) Order 1995|year=1995|number=1772|access-date=3 March 2024}} Durham County Council itself became a unitary authority on 1 April 2009, when the seven remaining non-metropolitan districts of the county were abolished and the county council absorbed their functions.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The County Durham (Structural Change) Order 2008|year=2008|number=493|access-date=6 March 2024}} The legislation which made the county council a unitary authority allowed the council to omit the word 'County' from its name to become 'Durham Council', but in the event the name 'Durham County Council' was kept.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Structural Changes) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provision) Order 2009|year=2009|number=837|article=7|access-date=6 March 2024}}{{efn|Like most unitary authorities, the way County Durham was legally made a unitary authority was by creating both a county and a district which cover the same area and then directing that only one of them should have a council, which performs both district and county functions. Unusually, the county and district have different names in this case: the non-metropolitan county (which had been created and named in the Local Government Act 1972) is called 'Durham', the non-metropolitan district created in the 2009 reforms is called 'County Durham'. The district does not have its own council, but the county council has been given district-level functions in addition to the county-level functions it already had.}}

In 2024 a combined authority was established covering Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland, called the North East Mayoral Combined Authority. It is chaired by the directly elected Mayor of the North East and oversees the delivery of certain strategic functions across the area.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The North East Mayoral Combined County Authority (Establishment and Functions) Order 2024|year=2024|number=402|access-date=6 May 2024}}

Since 2009, Durham County Council has provided both county-level and district-level services. Much of the county is also covered by civil parishes, which form a lower tier of local government for their areas.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=17 October 2023}}

The council is currently under majority Reform UK control since the 2025 election.{{cite web | last=Manning | first=Jonny | title=Durham County Council election results: Reform UK takes seats | website=BBC News | date=2025-05-02 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg419g63qelo | access-date=2025-05-02}}

Durham was the first county council to be controlled by Labour, who took power in 1919. Between 1922 and 1925, the council was under no overall control with a Labour minority administration. From 1925 until 2021, Labour held a majority. Political control since 1919 has been as follows:{{cite book |last=Bulmer |first=Martin |title=Mining and Social Change (Routledge Revivals): Durham County in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGDbCQAAQBAJ&q=labour+durham+county+council+1955&pg=PA129 |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |page=129 |isbn=9781317448488 }}{{Cite web|last=Bloom|first=Dan|date=2021-05-09|title=Labour lose control of Durham Council heartland for first time in a century|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/elections-2021-labour-lose-control-24069778|access-date=2021-05-09|website=mirror|language=en}}{{cite web |title=Compositions calculator |url=https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3825 |website=The Elections Centre | date=4 March 2016 |access-date=13 August 2022}}

The leaders of the council since 2001 have been:{{cite web |title=Council minutes |url=https://democracy.durham.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?bcr=1 |website=Durham County Council |access-date=14 August 2022}}

Following the 2025 United Kingdom local elections, the composition of the council was:{{cite web |title=Council's political make-up |url=https://durham.gov.uk/article/2299/Council-s-political-make-up#:~:text=Following%20the%20elections%20held%20on,17%20Conservative%20councillors |website=Durham County Council |access-date=20 May 2025}}

{{also|Durham County Council elections}}

From the previous boundary changes in 2013 the council comprised 126 councillors representing 63 electoral divisions, with each division electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 2012|year=2012|number=1394|access-date=6 March 2024}} New division boundaries were drawn up to take effect from the 2025 election, reducing the number of councillors to 98.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The County Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 2024|year=2024|number=279|access-date=6 March 2024}}

File:Indigo Hotel (Shire Hall), Durham, December 2020.jpg, Old Elvet: Council's headquarters 1898–1963]]

The council is based at County Hall at Aykley Heads in the northern suburbs of the city of Durham. The building was purpose-built for the council and was completed in 1963.{{cite web|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4536266.durham-county-hall-proposed-for-listed-building-protection/|title=Durham County Hall proposed for listed building protection|date=8 August 2009|publisher=Northern Echo|accessdate=20 September 2019}}

When first created the council met at the courthouse on Old Elvet, which at the time was known as Shire Hall. A few years after its creation the council decided to build its own headquarters on a site nearby, also on Old Elvet, which was also given the name Shire Hall. The new building was completed in 1898, after which the old Shire Hall became known as the Assizes Court, and since 1971 as Durham Crown Court.{{NHLE|desc=Old Shire Hall (University Office), Old Elvet|num=1310562|accessdate=20 September 2019}}

The council has announced plans to move to the Rivergreen building, also in the Aykley Heads area of Durham, in 2025, with the intention that County Hall would then be redeveloped.{{cite news |last1=Tague |first1=Neil |title=Council buys Rivergreen for £11m |url=https://www.placenortheast.co.uk/council-buys-rivergreen-for-11m/ |access-date=6 March 2024 |work=Place North East |date=18 October 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Edgar |first1=Bill |title=Durham County Council to demolish County Hall in relocation |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/23776417.durham-county-council-demolish-county-hall-relocation/ |access-date=6 March 2024 |work=Northern Echo |date=8 September 2023}}

{{Infobox COA wide|image=File:Arms of Durham County Council.svg|escutcheon=Azure, a Cross Or square pierced of the field between four Lions rampant Argent each ducally crowned Or and grasping in the dexter claw a Sword in bend sinister proper pommel and hilt also Or as many Lozenges Sable in the fess point a Rose Argent barbed and seeded proper|name=Durham County Council {{cite web|url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Durham_(County) |publisher=Heraldry of the World |accessdate=20 September 2024 |title=Durham}}|year_granted=May 10, 1974|bannerimage=Flag of Durham County Council.svg|banner=the banner of arms of the council|coronet=A mural crown Or}}

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• {{Official website|https://www.durham.gov.uk/}}

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{{Local authorities in County Durham}}

{{Unitary authorities of England}}

{{County councils of England}}

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Category:Billing authorities in England

Category:Durham, England

Category:English unitary authorities created in 2009

Category:Former county councils of England

Category:Leader and cabinet executives

Category:Local authorities in County Durham

Category:Local education authorities in England

Category:Unitary authority councils of England