| Billingham | |
Billingham Town Centre |
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Billingham
Billingham shown within County Durham |
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| Population | 35,765 (2006) [1] |
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| OS grid reference | NZ470240 |
| - London | 255 mi (410 km) |
| Unitary authority | Stockton-on-Tees |
| Ceremonial county | County Durham |
| Region | North East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BILLINGHAM |
| Postcode district | TS22, TS23 |
| Dialling code | 01642 |
| Police | Cleveland |
| Fire | Cleveland |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | Stockton North |
| List of places: UK • England • County Durham | |
Billingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 (2006).[1] It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people,[2] which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated. In modern history, the chemical industry, and in particular the company ICI, played an important role in the growth of Billingham. Today ICI no longer operates in Billingham, although other chemical companies are working in the area.
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With the declaration of the First World War, a high demand for explosives led to a massive expansion of Billingham. In 1917, Billingham was chosen to be the site of a new chemical works supplying ammonia for the war.[3] However, the plant was completed in 1920, after the war had ended. The Brunner Mond Company took over the site, and converted it to manufacture fertilisers. In December 1926, Brunner Mond merged with three other chemical companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), who took control of the plant. ICI began to produce plastics at Billingham in 1934.
Aldous Huxley visited the newly-opened and technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond plant at ICI and gave a detailed account of the processes he saw. The introduction to the most recent print of Brave New World states that Huxley was inspired to write the novel by this Billingham visit.
Henry Thorold in the Shell Guide to County Durham states:
| “ | This is one of the most extraordinary of experiences, a sight almost unique in England. On either side of the road are the works. Steaming, sizzling - tall steel towers, great cylinders, pipes everywhere... At night the whole industrial world along the banks of the Tees comes to life... brilliant with a thousand lights, the great girders of the Transporter Bridge dark in silhouette: a magic city." | ” |
From 1971 to 1988 ICI operated a small General Atomics TRIGA Mark I nuclear reactor at its Billingham factory. It also operated the coal-fired North Tees Power Station designed by Giles Gilbert Scott on the banks of the Tees, to provide electricity for its plants. This was eventually decommissioned and demolished (at a ceremony attended by Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley) in 1987. The site of the power station is now Billingham Reach Industrial Estate, an international wharf owned by Able UK Ltd. ICI no longer operates in Billingham, having sold many of its businesses during the restructuring of the company in the 1990s. Some of the company's former manufacturing plants are still in operation, run by other chemical companies.
In 1983, NIREX announced a proposal to use the now-disused anhydrite mine as a site for the disposal of intermediate level nuclear waste. There was a huge public outcry, since despite the suitability of the site in geological terms, it was very close to a large population centre. Subsequently, in 1985, the plans were dropped. More recent plans in 2007 to re-open the mines for "use as a long-term disposal facility for low hazard waste" were met with similar opposition, and a petition of 3,200 signatures against the mine's opening was presented to the local authority.[4]
In March 2011 Stockton Council's planning committee accepted an application from NPL Waste Management to reopen the mine for the disposal of hazardous waste. NPL plans to convert the mine to a 4,000,000 cubic metre waste storage facility, receiving over 100,000 tonnes of waste annually.[5]
Between 1923 and 1968, Billingham had its own Urban District Council which built, among other things, the Billingham Forum, Kennedy Gardens and Billingham Golf Club (the UK's first municipally-owned club). It was absorbed into the County Borough of Teesside in 1968. In 1974 Teesside County Borugh Council was abolished being replaced by the County of Cleveland which had four districts, Hartlepool, Langbaugh, Middlesbrough and Stockton on Tees. Billingham was then part of Stockton on Tees. In 1996 Cleveland County Council was abolished with Billingham being part of a new unitary (single tier) council for all of Stockton and Billingham.
In February 2007, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Electoral Commission issued orders for the creation of a Billingham Parish and the setting up of a new town council. Billingham Town Council is the largest in the Borough of Stockton. It is funded by a precept of £80,000. Elections for the new Town Council were held on May 3, 2007, a petition to Stockton Borough Council and referendum held in 2003 having both given assent to the proposal.
Several chemical plants close to the town were subject to explosions and leaks in 2006 and 2007.[6][7]
The town is effectively split into two separate areas by name, Old Billingham (the area around the village green adjacent to St Cuthbert's church and built up around the ICI works) and the more planned estates that have spread out since the 1950s, increasing the town's size and borders towards the villages of Wolviston and Cowpen Bewley, to the point of almost incorporating them.
Billingham Beck Valley Country Park was constructed from a reclaimed industrial waste tip and has steadily grown to include former grazing land to form a 120-acre (0.49 km2) site including wetland habitats. Designated as a Local Nature Reserve by English Nature in 1992, in 2005 it won a Green Flag Award. The beck itself is one of the major tributaries of the River Tees and has a tidal reach around the former ICI site.
Billingham is served by three secondary schools: Northfield School, a specialist sports college famous for Jamie Bell; Northfield, Marsh House Avenue Site, originally Brunner and Furness Comprehensive Schools and now an arts college; and St. Michael's RC School, a specialist science college.
At the moment construction is ongoing for St. Michael's to join the Billingham Campus and New Bede/Riverside College facilities on the Marsh House Avenue site, in a project The Council has published plans for a £40 million investment in Primary Schools which will include some being rebuilt or re-designed and refurbished. Roseberry Primary School and Bewley Infant and Bewley Junior Schools are on the list for action within the next few years.
Bede College has served the town for several years, and attracts students from Hartlepool and Stockton, consistently achieving higher results than nearby colleges in Stockton or Middlesbrough. It was one of the smallest colleges in the UK, with under 400 students, however its recent amalgamation with Stockton Riverside College and its relocation to an adjacent new campus, has seen these numbers increase significantly; as part of the new campus the college has gained its own sports facilities.
Billingham is home to several religious communities, the largest of which are the Church of England, and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church of England community is served by five churches, St. Cuthbert's, St. Luke's, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Aidan's, and St. Peter's, Wolviston, the town is situated in the Church of England Deanery of Stockton, in the Diocese of Durham which itself is within the Archdeaconry of Auckland. The town is served by, Rev David Brooke (area dean), Rev Canon Richard Smith (retired), Rev Tim Parker, Rev Sheila Day (Curate), and Rev Paul Clayton (Curate).
The Roman Catholic community is served by three parishes, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish Billingham, St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph's. Regular mass attendance in the town is around 756, according to figures released by the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. The parish is placed in the episcopal area of Cleveland and South Durham and the deanery of St. Peter, including Stockton & Billingham. The town is served by three Catholic Clergy, Rev J. Butters (also area Episcopal Vicar) is the parish priest, Rev L. Barrett is the curate, and Rev D. McKie the resident deacon.
The Christian community is also served by two Methodist churches and one Baptist church. There is also a Latter-day Saints church, and a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Billingham Town Centre provides the town with famous national retail chains such as Asda, Greggs, Iceland and Argos, as well as several charity shops, estate agents and banks, with a market featuring in the centre every Monday. The town centre lacks some services, but Stockton Town Centre is less than 3 miles (4.8 km) away and Middlesbrough Town Centre is also less than 3 miles (4.8 km) away. The town's Asda was the first Asda store to be opened in the North East in 1967 and it was rebranded as an Asda Supermarket in 2011 as part of Asda's branding for smaller stores and former Netto stores.
Billingham is served by the A19 running to Sunderland in the north and Thirsk in the south. The A19 has bypassed Billingham twice. The original route ran through Old Billingham and over a level crossing next to where the old railway station was located and ran through Wolviston in the north. The first bypass was built in the 1960s with a bridge over the railway line and a roundabout was built to the east of Wolviston in the north, the roundabout was built as a grade separated junction, the new bypass was already starting to be gridlocked during rush hour and the design did not help as there was too many roundabouts and junctions for the bypass to take effect and the growing number of vehicles using the A19. The second bypass was built in the 1980s to the west of the first bypass and the grade separated junction was demolished on the roundabout of the first bypass with the old northbound carriageway used for farm access. Billingham is also served by the A689 to Hartlepool in the east and Bishop Auckland in the west.
Billingham railway station is on the Durham Coast Line with hourly services provided by Northern Rail to Newcastle and the MetroCentre in the north and to Stockton and Middlesbrough in the south. Grand Central Railway provide an express train from Sunderland to London but the service does not currently serve Billingham. The original Billingham railway station closed in the late 1960s and moved a mile east along the line.
Billingham would also feature on the proposed Tees Valley Metro service if sufficient funding is granted.
Stagecoach provide services around the town and to Hartlepool, Stockton and Middlesbrough, the 36 serves Hartlepool via Greatham and Park End via Norton, Stockton and Middlesbrough. Also the 35 and 52 serve Stockton via Norton. Go North East provides the X9 to Newcastle upon Tyne and Middlesbrough, it also serves Peterlee, Heworth and Gateshead. Tees Valley Stagecarriage provide a service 87 to Hartburn via Norton and Stockton, whereas Arriva also provides services. Leven Valley serve Middlesbrough and Wolviston with their service 45.
The chemical industry's creation of ammonia in the town also led to the formation of one of Billingham's two football teams, Billingham Synthonia, Synthonia being a portmanteau of Synthetic Ammonia, and of similar origins is Billingham Synthonia Cricket Club. Billingham also is the home of Billingham Town F.C.
The town also has its own ice hockey team (the Billingham Bombers) in the English National Ice Hockey League, whose home rink is the Billingham Forum. However, due to refurbishment being carried out at the Billingham Forum the team is not taking part in the ENIHL.
The town has one Rugby Union Club 'Billingham Rugby Union Football Club' which has three senior teams, the 1st XV playing in North One East. The club has a promising junior section with teams winning Durham county cups and leagues. Players who have come through the junior section have gone on to higher levels. Chirstopher Hyndman most notably playing for England under-21s and Northampton.
In 1967, Billingham Forum was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. A sports and leisure complex, it contains a swimming pool, an ice rink, and a number of sports halls. The complex also houses the Forum Theatre. Notable personalities that have performed in the theatre include the late EastEnders icon Wendy Richard, Darren Day, Arthur Lowe, David Jason, Penelope Keith, Terry Scott, Timothy West, Carroll Baker, and Dame Anna Neagle. Roy Chubby Brown performed there for the first time in November 2006; his DVD for 2007 was recorded there as well.
As part of the proposals to regenerate Billingham, a 'Gateway' initiative proposed the construction of a new sports and leisure centre on John Whitehead Park to replace the Forum. This proved highly controversial, particularly as the Forum's would-be-replacement did not contain a theatre. The proposals were abandoned in November 2004, shortly after the Forum Theatre was granted Grade II listed building status.
Following a survey that reported 98% of participants in favour,[8] Stockton Borough Council now intend to submit a bid of £15 - 20 million[9] to refurbish the Forum Complex in partnership with The Billingham Partnership group.[8]
On June 2nd 2011, the Billingham Forum returned from its £15m refurbishment, which started in mid 2009. The Billingham Forum now encompasses business standard conferencing facilities, a swimming facility, a TFM Radio-sponsored ice rink, a state of the art Active 8 Gym with TechnoGym Digital exercising equipment, a brand new sauna and steam room, a sports injury center, and dry sports and drama facilities. There was originally a fish pond in the center of Billingham Forum, however this has been removed. The exterior wall panels have also been replenished on a color scheme of Dark Blue, Grey and Yellow.
The town has its own weather station at www.billinghamweather.com. The station is based at a house in Imperial Road on the south side of the town. The highest temperature received was 31.4°C on the 1st July 2009 while the lowest was -7.9°C on the 20th December 2009.
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