North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear in the North East of England. Its seat is at the Town Hall, Wallsend.
Created in 1974, the borough lies within the historic county boundaries of Northumberland.
North Tyneside is bounded by Newcastle to the West, the river Tyne to the South and Northumberland to the North. The main towns are Wallsend, North Shields and Whitley Bay, which form a continuously built-up area contiguous with Newcastle. Other places in North Tyneside include:
The borough was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of the county borough of Tynemouth, with the borough of Wallsend, part of the borough of Whitley Bay, the urban district of Longbenton and part of the urban district of Seaton Valley.
Unlike most English districts, its council is led by a directly-elected mayor, currently John Harrison
The council is elected "in thirds", with one councillor from each three-member ward elected each year for the first three years, the mayoral election being held on the fourth year. With three councillors elected from each of 20 wards, there are 60 councillors in total.
A third of the councillors were elected as part of the English local elections of 2008.
A third of the councillors were elected as part of the English local elections of 2007.
North Tyneside lies in the coalfield that covers the South-East of the historic county of Northumberland. It has traditionally been a centre of heavy industry along with the rest of Tyneside, with for example the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, and export of coal. Today most of the heavy industry has gone, leaving high unemployment in some areas (over the borough, 3.2% compared to 2.7% for the UK). The borough is the 69th most deprived in England, out of 354. However some parts function as relatively wealthy dormitory suburbs of Newcastle. Recent growth has come in the A19 corridor with new industrial estates and retail parks.
Two key roads serve North Tyneside:
North Tyneside is served by 17 stations on the Tyne & Wear Metro on a loop from Newcastle through Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Benton and back to Newcastle. There are no National Rail stations in the borough.
The Shields Ferry links North Shields to South Shields, in South Tyneside.
There is an international ferry terminal at Royal Quays in North Shields, with services to Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.
