TEESVALLEY JOINT STRATEGY UNIT

The Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit was established in April 1996 to provide a strategic planning, transport and information service to the five unitary authorities of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees.  This included the preparation of the Tees Valley Structure Plan on behalf of all five authorities.

More recently the Unit has played a major role in representing the Tees Valley unitary authorities at the regional level, particularly the Regional Spatial Strategy and the Regional Economic Strategy.  The Unit is also responsible for the preparation of joint minerals and waste development plan documents, again on behalf of the five unitary authorities.

Link to Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit website:

http://www.teesvalley-jsu.gov.uk

Links to unitary authority (Borough Council) websites:

Darlington Borough Council

http://darlington.gov.uk

Hartlepool Borough Council

http://hartlepool.gov.uk

Middlesbrough Council

http://middlesbrough.gov.uk

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

http://redcar-cleveland.gov.uk

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

http://www.stockton.gov.uk

The Borough Councils are responsible for determining all planning applications and for the preparation of local development frameworks.

TeesValley Sub-Region – Profile

The Tees Valley sub-region is based around the Tees conurbation (Stockton – Middlesbrough – Redcar) and the main towns of Darlington and Hartlepool.  The sub-region also includes substantial rural areas, particularly in east Cleveland and around Darlington and Hartlepool.  The sub-region covers an area of 79,400 hectares.

The 2006 resident population of the Tees Valley was some 651,000.  It has an average population density of 8.2 persons per hectare, compared with 2.9 persons per hectare in the North East as a whole, and 3.5 in England and Wales.

The economy of the Tees Valley is based around the largest integrated heavy industrial complex in the UK:

• The petrochemical cluster at Wilton. Billingham and Seal Sands

• The Redcar Steel Complex

• Teesport which handles 10% of all UK port traffic

The sub-region has also developed a strong logistics industry based around the port and the distribution of chemicals/steel/engineering products, and financial and business services in Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough is the largest retail centre in the Tees Valley, and a major cultural and service employment centre.  Stockton is a major employment and retail centre, and contains the Queen’s Campus of Durham University.  Darlington has an important role as a sub-regional employment, retail and cultural centre serving a distinct catchment area covering south Durham and a large part of North Yorkshire.  Hartlepool is a major retail, service and manufacturing centre serving the north east part of the sub-region, with the added benefit of an attractive coastline.  Redcar is a traditional seaside resort and the main service centre for the more rural east Cleveland.

Author:

Kay Lough

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

13-Mar-07

Categories:

Nations & Regions 

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