County Durham (district)

Coordinates: 54°42′51″N 1°47′51″W / 54.7143°N 1.7976°W / 54.7143; -1.7976Sovereign stateUnited KingdomCountryEnglandRegionNorth EastCeremonial countyCounty DurhamCity regionNorth EastCreated1 April 2009Named forCounty DurhamAdministrative HQCounty Hall, DurhamGovernment • TypeUnitary authority • BodyDurham County Council • ExecutiveLeader and cabinet • ControlNo overall control • LeaderAmanda Hopgood (LD) • ChairJoan Nicholson • MPsArea • Total859 sq mi (2,226 km²) • Rank11thPopulation • Total528,127 • Rank10th • Density610/sq mi (237/km²)Ethnicity (2021) • Ethnic groupsReligion (2021) • ReligionTime zoneUTC+0 (GMT) • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)Postcode areasDialling codes0191ISO 3166 codeGB-DURGSS codeE06000047Websitedurham.gov.uk

County Durham is a local government district in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is governed by Durham County Council, a unitary authority.^[5] The district has an area of 2,226 square kilometres (859 sq mi), and contains 135 civil parishes.^[6] It forms part of the larger ceremonial county of Durham, together with boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees.

Between 1974 and 1 April 2009, County Durham was governed as a two-tier non-metropolitan county, with a county council and district councils. The original eight districts were Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Durham (city), Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley.^[7] In 1997 Darlington was removed from the non-metropolitan county and became a separate unitary authority.^[8] In 2009 the remaining districts were abolished and replaced by a single district covering the non-metropolitan county, with Durham County Council as the sole local authority.^[9]

The district has multiple hamlets and villages. Settlements with town status include Consett, Barnard Castle, Peterlee, Seaham, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Shildon, Chester-le-Street, Crook, Stanley, Willington, Stanhope, Spennymoor, Ferryhill and Sedgefield while Durham is the only city in the district.^{[citation needed]}

Neighbouring council areas

Local authority	In relation to the district
Northumberland	North
Gateshead	North east
City of Sunderland	North east
Hartlepool	South east
Stockton-on-Tees	South east
Darlington	South
North Yorkshire	South
Westmorland and Furness	West

Following the 2021 United Kingdom local elections, the council is now^[when?] under control of a coalition of the Liberal Democrats, Conservative Party, Independents and North East Party.^{[citation needed]}

Durham LEA has a comprehensive school system with 36 state secondary schools (not including sixth form colleges) and five independent schools (four in Durham and one in Barnard Castle). Easington district has the largest school population by year, and Teesdale has the smallest with two schools. Only one school in Easington and Derwentside districts have sixth forms, with about half the schools in the other districts having sixth forms.^{[citation needed]}

• Durham County Council information from GeoPunk
• Durham County Council information from Alan Godfrey Maps