Redcar and Cleveland

Borough of Redcar & Cleveland
Unitary authority area, Borough

BOC Refinery in Redcar

Logo

Map of the five boroughs of the Tees Valley within England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
Region North East England
City Region Tees Valley
Ceremonial County North Yorkshire
Admin. HQ Teesville
Government
 • Type Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council
 • Leadership: George Dunning (L)
 • Executive: Labour
 • MPs: Tom Blenkinsop (L)
Ian Swales (LD)
Area
 • Total 94.6 sq mi (244.9 km2)
Area rank 155th
Population (2011 est.)
 • Total 135,200
 • Rank Ranked 150th
 • Density 1,400/sq mi (550/km2)
Time zone Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) British Summer Time (UTC+1)
ONS code 00EE (ONS)
E06000003 (GSS)
Ethnicity 98.9% White
Website redcar-cleveland.gov.uk

The borough of Redcar & Cleveland is a unitary authority area in the Tees Valley region of the North East of England, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, consisting of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Guisborough, and small towns such as Brotton, Eston, Skelton and Loftus. It had a resident population of 135,200 in 2011,.[1] It is represented in Parliament by Ian Swales (Liberal Democrat) for the Redcar constituency and by Tom Blenkinsop (Labour) for the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.

The borough borders Scarborough and Hambleton in North Yorkshire, and the unitary authority areas of Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.

History

The district was created in 1974 as the borough of Langbaurgh, one of four districts of the new non-metropolitan county of Cleveland. It was formed from the Coatham, Kirkleatham, Ormesby, Redcar and South Bank wards of the county borough of Teesside, along with Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Marske-by-the-Sea, Eston Grange and Skelton and Brotton urban districts, from the North Riding of Yorkshire. The borough was named after the ancient Langbaurgh wapentake of Yorkshire. On 1 January 1988 the borough was renamed Langbaurgh-on-Tees.

Cleveland County was abolished on 1 April 1996, with its districts becoming unitary authority areas. At this time Langbaurgh-on-Tees was renamed Redcar and Cleveland. Cleveland County was a two-tier local authority, with the county council being superior to its four districts, of which Langbaurgh-on-Tees was one. Upon becoming a unitary authority, Langbaurgh-on-Tees (renamed Redcar and Cleveland) acquired all the full rights and duties as a county, whilst retaining the same boundaries as before.

Civic Centre

Redcar and Cleveland Civic Centre is in the Leisure and Community Heart, in Redcar. The centre was opened in 2014 at a cost of £31 million. It contains civic and business facilities including a council chamber, mayor’s parlour, register services, meeting rooms, 44 business units, as well as sport and leisure facilities.[2][3]

It replaces the previous civic centre in Teesville, which was demolished in 2012. Civic facilities were relocated, Inspire 2 Learn, formerly the Eston City Learning Centre, also in Teesville. The Mayor's office was temporarily relocated to Kirkleatham Museum, before also moving to Redcar. The Council also has offices in Redcar at Kirkleatham Street and in Guisborough.[4][5]

The old town hall closure also provided an environmental boost as it was the authority's worst-performing building for carbon dioxide emissions.[6]

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross 'value added' of South Teesside at current basic prices[7] published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year Regional Gross Value Added Agriculture Industry Services
1995 2,428 9 926 1,493
2000 2,919 11 940 1,967
2003 3,167 10 970 2,187
2006 3,982 11 997 4,187

^ includes hunting and forestry

^ includes energy and construction

^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Local Industry

The main industries within the greater district of the town of Redcar are the Thai steel producers SSI who operate Europe's largest blast furnace and the Chemical Industry-based close to Wilton village on the Chemical Industry Park known internationally as Wilton. The steel and chemical companies are all members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

The Wilton chemical site is owned by Singaporean utility company Sembcorp and companies operating there include SABIC who have recently built the world's largest low-density polyethylene plant (LDPE)and still operate an ethylene cracker. Lotte Chemicals are expanding both PTA and PET production. Huntsman manufacture polyurathane intermediates and Ensus have built Europe's largest bioethanol facility. Biffa Polymers now operate a polymer recycling plant that handles up to 30% of the UKs plastic milk bottles. While in support of Semcorp, who built the UK's first wood-fired power station (Wilton 10), UK Wood Recycling Limited have a significant facility on the site providing waste wood to fuel Wilton 10.

Wilton International is a multi-occupancy business and research centre and is one of the main offices used by the economic cluster body the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). Many occupants of the Wilton International facility are members of the NEPIC Cluster. The Wilton International complex is one of the largest R&D facilities in Europe and is also home to the Centre of Process Innovation an National Innovation Catapult facility. Wilton International has both laboratories and scale-up facilities for the chemistry using process industries that are accessed by many companies on a commercial or contract basis.

Social housing

Coast and Country Housing Limited

Coast and Country is the largest social housing provider within Redcar and Cleveland. It took over the ownership and management of homes from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council in July 2002. In addition to providing core housing services the company has also invested in independent living services, including the development of a new Telecare service in partnership with the Borough Council.

Local nature reserves

The council maintains a number of Local nature reserves. These are Guisborough Branch Walkway, Flatts Lane Woodland Country Park and Rosecroft Wood, Loftus Wood, Whitecliff Wood, Clarksons Wood, Errington Wood and Eston Moor.[8]

Politics

The makeup of the council following the 2011 elections was as follows:

Group affiliation Members
Labour 30
Labour Co-op 2
Liberal Democrat 16
Conservative 6
  East Cleveland Independents
3
  Independents
2
 Total
 59

The turn-out was 42.01 per cent.[9]

Youth Parliament

Redcar & Cleveland Council promotes the UK Youth Parliament, a national charity which promotes democratic debate amongst its 11 - 18-year-old members.[10]

Town twinning

Redcar and Cleveland is twinned with:

References

  1. ↑ "Table P07 2011 Census: Number of usual residents living in households and communal establishments, local authorities in England and Wales". 2011 Census, Population and Household Estimates for England and Wales. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Redcar civic centre and sports complex opens to the public". Middlesbrough Evening Gazette. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Multi-million pound leisure centre opens its doors in Redcar". Northern Echo. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  4. ↑ The Northern Echo: Redcar News - Earlier town hall closure to save cash
  5. ↑ Middlesbrough Evening Gazette: Redcar and Cleveland council leader hits out at party's 'hypocrisy'
  6. ↑ Town Hall move to save council millions
  7. ↑ Regional Gross 'Value Added' of South Teesside (pp. 240–253)
  8. ↑ "Local Nature Reserves". Redcar and Cleveland Council. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  9. ↑ Redcar and Cleveland website: May 2011 Election Results
  10. ↑ UK Youth Parliament Website

External links

Coordinates: 54°34′45″N 1°02′03″W / 54.57923°N 1.03409°W