Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a in   around the mouths of the Rivers  and. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the. It consists of the five s of, , City of , and the.

Tyne and Wear is bounded on the east by the, and as a , shares borders with to the north, and  to the south.

was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively. However, the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.

The territory comprising the county of Tyne and Wear previously formed part of the counties of Northumberland and County Durham.

History
,, and  were all constituted as s under the. These were joined by in 1904. Between the county boroughs various settlements were part of the administrative counties of and.

The need to reform local government on Tyneside was recognised as early as 1935, when a Royal Commission to Investigate the Conditions of Local Government on Tyneside was appointed. The three commissioners were to "examine the system of local government in the areas of local government north and south of the river Tyne from the sea to the boundary of the Rural District of Castle Ward and Hexham in the County of Northumberland and to the Western boundary of the County of Durham, to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the existing arrrngements with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency, and to make recommendations."

The report of the Royal Commission was published in 1937. It recommended the establishment of a Regional Council for Northumberland and Tyneside (to be called the "Northumberland Regional Council") to administer services that needed to be exercised over a wide area, with a second tier of smaller units for other local government purposes. The second-tier units would be formed by amalgamating the various existing boroughs and districts. The county boroughs in the area would lose their status. Within this area, a single municipality would be formed covering the four county boroughs of Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth, South Shields and other urban districts and boroughs.

A minority report proposed amalgamation of Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jarrow, Felling, Gosforth, Hebburn and Newburn into a single "county borough of Newcastle-on-Tyneside". The 1937 report was not acted upon : local authorities were unable to agree on a scheme and the legislation of the time did not allow central government to compel one.

Tyneside (excluding ) was a under the. The came back with a recommendation to create a new county of Tyneside based on the review area, divided into four separate boroughs. This was not implemented. The proposed a Tyneside, again excluding Sunderland, which was to form a separate East Durham unitary authority.

The White Paper that led to the Local Government Act 1972 proposed as "area 2" a metropolitan county including Newcastle and Sunderland, extending as far south down the coast as Seaham and Easington, and bordering "area 4" (which would become ). The Bill as presented in November 1971 pruned back the southern edge of the area, and gave it the name 'Tyneside'. The name 'Tyneside' was controversial on, and the name changed to 'Tyne and Wear' by a government amendment upon the request of Sunderland County Borough Council.

Local government
Although the metropolitan county council was abolished in 1986, several exist to run certain services on a county-wide basis. Most notable is the, which co-ordinates transport policy. Through its, known as Nexus, it owns and operates the  system, and the Shields  service and the Tyne , linking communities on either side of the River Tyne. Also through Nexus, the authority subsidises socially-necessary transport services (including taxis) and operates a concessionary fares scheme for the elderly and disabled.

The Passenger Transport Authority is a "precepting authority", raising funds by imposing a levy on the of the five constituent authorities of Tyne and Wear.

Other joint bodies include, and the. These joint bodies are administered by representatives of all five of the constituent councils. In addition the force, which covers the whole of  and Tyne and Wear, is one of several joint forces in England spanning two or more counties. The force was created in 1974, and so is not a by-product of the abolition of the county council.

Identity
The metropolitan county crosses the historic border between, and : the. and are to the north of it (in what was part of ), and,  and  are to the south (in what was part of ).

Some organisations do not use Tyne and Wear as a county, instead retaining the historic boundary between and. This includes particularly and  recording groups, for whom the stability of recording boundaries is important for the maintenance of long-term records (see ).

The River Tyne was used as the border in 1883 when Parliament created the  out of the  and remains so still.

Additionally, administrative convenience, demographics and loyalty mean that many ing organisations also use the historic boundary; For example, the is based in, as is the   and its four regular grounds.

Some residents also prefer to use the when referring to places in Tyne and Wear.

Others feel that the Tyne is linking factor, not a dividing line. Many inhabitants refer to themselves as rs or, regardless of which side of the river they are from. Despite a strong local rivalry, there are strong links between Newcastle and Gateshead, as well as the many bridges that link the two communities; one example being the (failed) joint bid for in 2008.

Politics
The county is divided into 14. In July 2005, all these constituencies were represented by. Historically, the area has been a Labour stronghold: for example, South Shields is the only Parliamentary constituency that has never returned a Member of Parliament (MP) to the  since the ,

Reviews by the may lead to a change in the number of parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear, reducing them by one. This could see a constituency returning a Conservative MP as the reorganisation of constituencies in the has created a Sunderland Central constituency, encompassing the Conservative-held wards north and south of the. Sunderland North and Washington and Sunderland South and Houghton are the other new constituencies, although there has been criticism that does not share the same cultural and historical links that  and  do, which is currently reflected in the Houghton and Washington East constituency. The small part of the Gateshead East and Washington West constituency that lies within the will be included in the Sunderland North and Washington constituency.

At the level of, three of the region's five were controlled by Labour in 2005, the exceptions being Newcastle City Council and North Tyneside Council. Since an upset result in the, the former has been controlled by the. No one party has overall control of North Tyneside Council: while the Conservatives hold the greatest number of seats, 28, they lack an overall majority, there are 32 other councillors. North Tyneside is the only authority in the area with a directly elected Mayor. Currently a Labour member.

Settlements
For a complete list of all villages, towns and cities see the .

Places of interest

 * Gateshead
 * , which crosses the Gateshead/Chester-le-Street boundary
 * and
 * , Sunniside (crosses boundary into Derwentside)
 * Newcastle Upon Tyne
 * (previously Museum of Science & Technology)
 * (currently located in Gateshead until 2008 when renovation finishes to the Newcastle site)
 * North Tyneside
 * & Museum, Wallsend
 * reserve
 * South Tyneside
 * Roman Fort & Museum, South Shields
 * reserve
 * , Jarrow
 * Sunderland
 * , Springwell Village (and Eighton Banks, Gateshead)
 * Northen Gallery for Contemporary Art
 * , a and   of the
 * (currently located in Gateshead until 2008 when renovation finishes to the Newcastle site)
 * North Tyneside
 * & Museum, Wallsend
 * reserve
 * South Tyneside
 * Roman Fort & Museum, South Shields
 * reserve
 * , Jarrow
 * Sunderland
 * , Springwell Village (and Eighton Banks, Gateshead)
 * Northen Gallery for Contemporary Art
 * , a and   of the
 * , Jarrow
 * Sunderland
 * , Springwell Village (and Eighton Banks, Gateshead)
 * Northen Gallery for Contemporary Art
 * , a and   of the
 * Northen Gallery for Contemporary Art
 * , a and   of the
 * Northen Gallery for Contemporary Art
 * , a and   of the
 * , a and   of the