Hartlepool

Introduction

Hartlepool Borough Council is situated in the Tees Valley in the south of the North East region and lies on the coast north of Stockton-on-Tees. It has been responsible for all local authority services since April 1996, when it became a unitary council when the two-tier system of the borough council and Cleveland County Council was replaced with the current unitary authority status. Hartlepool has a directly elected Mayor. 

The town developed around the port that grew in significance during the latter half of 19th century with steel making, shipbuilding and engineering flourishing. Following the decline of these traditional industries service sector businesses such have call centres have emerged many sited around the re-developed port area and its marina.

Recent Visits

No recent visits

Demographics for Hartlepool

Mid-2006 Population Estimates

Children and Learners

• School Capital Funding allocations for the next three years were announced in November 2007. As a result Hartlepool LA will receive £4.9m in 2008/09 (including £1m for modernisation and £2m for devolved formula funding), £7.6m in 2009/10 (including £3m from the Primary Capital Programme) and £9.9m in 2010/11 (including £5.4m from the Primary Capital Programme) - although 2009-11 figures are only indicative at this stage.
• Hartlepool recently joined wave 5 of the Building Schools for the Future programme. Based on the current timetable the first schools in this project should be rebuilt or renewed by September 2012 and the last by April 2013. The £2bn a year National Capital Investment Programme is aiming to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England so that every child is taught in well designed, efficient 21st century buildings.
  

Health and Well Being

• Sandwell Park, a brand new mental health hospital opened in December 2006. The hospital will provide mental health services for adults and older people. It was funded from the £8.4 million mental health building project given to Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust from County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority (now North East Strategic Health Authority).
• A new £1.1 million care centre opened in Hartlepool in October 2006. The Wynyard Road Primary Care Centre has been built as part of the Local Improvement Finance Trusts (LIFT) programme and aims to provide a range of health services to reduce the need for patients to visit hospitals.

Crime

• During 2008-11 the partnership will receive a Home Office Contribution to their Area Based Grant of £546,000.  This equates to £182,000 per year.  Their funding is to be used to support the delivery of the LAA agreed priorities.
• Over £84,000 has also been allocated under the Home office Basic Command Unit fund for 2008-09 to help police play a full and active role in delivery of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership strategies and policing plans and contribute towards achievement of PSA and local targets. Funding will be used on a wide range of interventions and targeted police operations to tackle crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour, drugs misuse and building Partnership Capacity. All activity has been identified by taking intelligence led and problem solving approaches.
  

Transport

• £2 million was allocated to Hartlepool from the integrated transport and maintenance block for 2007-08. This will be used to support a number of initiatives/schemes including access for all, cycling, public transport, safety and security, demand management and environmental improvements.
• A £2.5 million scheme to build a modern transport interchange next to Hartlepool railway station is being progressed by the local council to make public transport journeys more accessible, less time consuming and more attractive. A Contractor has been selected but Hartlepool BC are still waiting for some legal agreements to be sorted out with the owners of the railway station before work can commence. Works have started on station improvements and major works are expected to commence in summer 2008 and to be completed in late 2009. The new interchange is funded entirely through Local Transport Plan (LTP).

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• £4.5 million through Working Neighbourhoods Fund for 2008-09, £5.37 million for 2009-10 and £5.58 million for 201-11 has been allocated to tackle areas of the highest concentrations of worklessness and lowest levels of skills and enterprise, faced by the most disadvantaged communities. In addition, at least £1.6 million over four years from the Neighbourhood element of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund.
• £3.8 million has been allocated for 2006-07 under the Supporting People programme which offers vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by delivering high quality and strategically planned housing-related services which complement existing care services.
• Announced in October 2005, Hartlepool New Deal for Communities and Longhill and Sandgate Improvement Scheme has spent £1.3 million on the estates in the last two years, attracting a further £900,000 of private investment and £800,000 of European and local authority funding, which has lead to 44 new business set-ups and more than 200 jobs being created.

European Funding

• £72,000 has been allocated to the Hartlepool Art Studio Project to help purchase a former town centre shop, to create a community access arts facility. The project will assist the community in gaining employment in a number of occupations including graphic arts, community arts, youth arts and desktop publishing.
• A new £1.9 million Headland Sports Hall was officially opened in June 2006 at Hartlepool. The centre features a large sports hall, a state-of-the-art fitness suite, and a crèche. The building was paid for by the Sport England and Big Lottery Fund Active England programme.