Northumberland County Council

Northumberland County Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Leader	Grant Davey
Chairman	David Ledger
Structure
Seats	67
Political groups	Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Independents
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	2 May 2013
Meeting place
County Hall, Morpeth
Website
northumberland.gov.uk

Northumberland proper, as administered by the Council

Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the Non-Metropolitan Unitary Authority at the 2011 Census was 316,028.^[1]

History

It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of Northumberland and reformed, downsized in 1974 to cover the newly formed non-metropolitan county of Northumberland, which for the first time excluded the City of Newcastle upon Tyne conurbation. As part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England it became a unitary authority with the same boundaries, this disregarded the referendum held in 2005 in which the population voted against the forming of a Unitary authority.^[2]

Its elections have been in May 2008 and 2013, to be at four yearly intervals, the expected length of office of each councillor.

Naming of the new Unitary Authority

Throughout 2008, the people of Northumberland were consulted about the new name of the unitary authority. The choice was between having the name of the incumbent county council as the name for the new unitary authority - Northumberland County Council or whether a brand new name should be given - Northumberland Council. Online polls were held and the votes of staff within the former district councils were collated and overall, the name of the incumbent county council was preferred on a ratio of nearly 2:1.^[3]

On 17 December 2008 it was decided that the new name would be Northumberland County Council. The Chairman of the Council stated that:

Having considered the findings of this consultation, it has been decided to call the new authority Northumberland County Council. It is important to reiterate that whilst the single unitary will adopt the name of an existing council, this is emphatically not a County Council takeover. As of 1 April 2009, all existing Northumberland councils will be abolished to make way for a brand new organisation, with new vision, values, and behaviours.

Legally however, the County Council remains the same body as at present, simply assuming the functions of the districts.^[4]

Composition

Following the election of 2013 and subsequent by-elections,^[5][6] the Northumberland County Council has no overall control, with Labour being the largest group on the Council.^[7]

Affiliation		Members
	Labour Group	32
	Conservative Group	21
	Liberal Democrat Group	12
	Independent Group	2
Total		67

Other uses

Eurostat statistical area

For Eurostat purposes the area under the jurisdiction of Northumberland County Council is a NUTS 3 region (code UKC21) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region.

References

1. "Non-metropolitan unitary population 2011". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
2. http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/BB_News.asp?BB_Bulletin_ID=4108
3. http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/BB_News.asp?BB_Bulletin_ID=4100
4. Northumberland (Structural Change) Order 2008
5. http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=15621
6. http://www.berwick-advertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/all-news/lib-dems-take-longhoughton-seat-1-3488646
7. "Councillors". Northumberland County Council. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

Coordinates: 55°09′13″N 1°41′03″W / 55.15361°N 1.68417°W