Middlesbrough

Introduction

Middlesbrough in in the Tees Valley sub-region on the southern bank of the River Tees and is a major retail, commercial and university town. In April 1996 Middlesbrough became a unitary council, replacing the two-tier system of the borough council and Cleveland County Council, and is now responsible for all local authority services. Middlesbrough also has a directly-elected Mayor. 

Middlesbrough’s economy was traditionally based in heavy engineering and chemicals, and although the local economy has diversified to include media, design and e-commerce a major contributor to the local economy remains the petrochemical sector which contains many world class businesses. Middlesbrough’s Institute of Modern Art (Mima) opened in 2007 to critical acclaim.

Recent visits

Wednesday 11 March: Joan Ruddock MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Energy and Climate Change spoke at a Local Action on Climate Change Conference hosted by Middlesbrough Council at Middlesbrough Teaching and Learning Centre.

Friday 17 April: Lord Adonis, Minister of State for Transport visited Middlesbrough as part of the regional segment of a Tour of Great Britain by Rail. 

Demographics for Middlesbrough

Mid-2007 Population Estimates

Children and learners

• School Capital Funding allocations for the next three years were announced in November 2007. As a result Middlesbrough Council received £7.2 million in 2008-09 (including £1.6 million for modernisation and £2.7 million for devolved formula funding), £9.8 million in 2009-10 (including £3.2 million from the Primary Capital Programme) and £12.1 million in 2010-11 (including £5.9 million from the Primary Capital Programme), although 2009-11 figures are only indicative at this stage.
• Middlesbrough is in wave 2 of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and will benefit from funding of £115.5 million (£108 million build funding and £7.5 million ICT) to cover 7 schools and a Pupil Referral Unit. Based on the current timetable the first schools in this project should be rebuilt or renewed by September 2010 and the last by September 2012.
• In December 2006 work started on the new £70 million Middlesbrough College in Middlehaven. The building opened in 2008 and now houses 2,800 full-time and 17,000 part time students.
• Three City Academies lie within Middlesbrough with pledged support of approximately £2 million each. The Macmillan Academy in West Middlesbrough specialises in Science, PE and Outdoor Education. It is also a Department for Children Schools and Families designated Training School for Teachers and the only school in the country to be a training centre for National College for School leadership courses.

Health and well being

• A £270 million transformation of NHS services across the country will see a new GP surgery with additional facilities to open in Middlesbrough under the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme. 

Crime

• During 2008-11 the partnership will receive a Home Office contribution to their Area Based Grant of £840,000. This equates to £280,000 per year. Their funding is to be used to support the delivery of the agreed local area agreement priorities.
• Over £216,000 has been allocated under the Home Office Basic Command Unit fund for 200-10 to help police play a full and active role in delivery of crime and disorder reduction partnership strategies and policing plans to contribute towards achievement of public service agreements and local targets.

Transport

• £10.1 million allocated for Middlesbrough for the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 from the integrated transport and maintenance block, to support several schemes including access for all, cycling, public transport, safety, security and demand management.
• The North Middlesbrough Accessibility Improvement is a £13.5 million (£12.3 million Department for Transport contribution) scheme currently under construction. The scheme will provide an additional lane in each direction on the A66 between the A19 and Newport interchanges, improve the operation and traffic control of Newport Roundabout, and provide a new link road between Newport Roundabout and Riverside Park. Works are expected to be completed by spring 2009.

Social inclusion and regeneration

• £52 million of New Deal for Communities funding has been allocated over 10 years for West Middlesbrough. A Business Grant Fund is helping new businesses to start up and existing businesses to become more competitive. Twenty-six grants, totalling over £65,000 have now been awarded.
• £7.4 million through Working Neighbourhoods Fund for 2008-09, £8.53 million for 2009-10 and £8.8 million for 2010-11 have been allocated to tackle areas of the highest concentrations of worklessness and lowest levels of skills and enterprise, faced by the most disadvantaged communities. 
• £5.98 million has been allocated for 2008-09, and indicatively for 2009-10 and 2010-11 under the Supporting People programme. The programme 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.
• A £17million BoHo zone is expected to create 27 businesses and 283 jobs and will be developed in the area of Queen's Square, Exchange Square and the railway station in Middlesbrough.

European funding

• The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art is a bold new gallery of modern and contemporary art which opened on 27 January 2007 with the help of £4.8 million of European Regional Development Funding. It has already exceeded expectations with more than 81,000 people visiting the £14.2 million gallery, which is 80 per cent of projected annual visitor numbers achieved in the first six months.
• Ten years ago unemployment in South Bank and Grangetown in Middlesbrough was in excess of 20 per cent. The Job Connect, Redcar and Cleveland project established outreach sessions in community venues to encourage residents into studying and training for employment. Since then more than 2,000 residents have been helped into work and 550 have achieved vocational qualifications.

Source: Office for National Statistics. Last updated 23 June 2009

Internet links

• Neighbourhood Statistics
• Regional Snapshot