City of Durham

Infobox UK district
name = City of Durham


status = City
region = North East England
admincounty = County Durham
area = Ranked 195th
186.68 km²
adminhq = Durham
onscode = 20UE
population = Ranked English district rank|ONS=20UE
English district population|ONS=20UE
English district density|ONS=20UE / km²
ethnicity = 97.7% White
politics = Durham City Council
http://www.durhamcity.gov.uk/
leadership = Leader & Cabinet
executive = English district control|ONS=20UE
mp = Roberta Blackman-Woods
year = 2005

Durham is a local government district in County Durham, England. Its main settlement is Durham. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Durham and Framwelgate with Brandon and Byshottles urban district and Durham Rural District. The district will be abolished as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England.

Mayors of the City of Durham

Mayors of the City of Durham are styled "The Right Worshipful, The Mayor of Durham". The Mayoralty is taken as a continuation of the mayoralty of the pre-1974 Durham and Framwelgate. The Mayor of Durham is entitled to an armed ceremonial bodyguard.

Mayors since 1974

* 1974/75 John J. Ramshaw, B.E.M.
* 1975/76 Clifford Ellison, B.E.M.
* 1976/77 James Mackintosh
* 1977/78 Allan Thompson, J.P.
* 1978/79 Joseph Edward Wright, B.E.M., J.P.
* 1979/80 James Barr Lattimer, J.P.
* 1980/81 Joseph Sylvester Anderson
* 1981/82 William Taylor
* 1982/83 Walter Stobbs
* 1983/84 Derek Hanson
* 1984/85 Ebenezer Shuker
* 1985/86 Alan Crooks, J.P.
* 1986/87 Robert Clewes
* 1987/88 Ivy Elaine Humphries
* 1988/89 Mildred Brown
* 1989/90 James Alfred Fearon
* 1990/91 William Henry Hartwell
* 1991/92 David Bell
* 1992/93 Michael Rochford
* 1993/94 Maurice Crathorne, M.B.E.
* 1994/95 William Dermot Cavanagh, M.A.
* 1995/96 Stephen Terence McDonnell, D.N.
* 1996/97 Joseph Sylvester Anderson
* 1997/98 Neil Griffin, B.Ed, M.A.
* 1998/99 Derek Young
* 1999/00 Margaret Adair
* 2000/01 George Wharton
* 2001/02 John George Cowper
* 2002/03 Eileen Rochford
* 2003/04 Raymond Gibbon
* 2004/05 Mary Ruth Hawgood
* 2005/06 John George Taylor Lightley
* 2006/07 William Jeffrey Lodge
* 2007/08 Robert Wynn
* 2008/09 Grenville Holland

Other Civic Appointments

Other civic appointments in the City of Durham include:
* Deputy Mayor - currently Councillor Robert Wynn.
* Town Clerk - the Council's Chief Executive.
* Recorder - the Council's Director of Legal Services.
* Chaplain - the Dean of Durham Cathedral.
* Judicial Recorder (since 2005) - currently His Honour Judge Richard Lowden
* Billet Master - to be held by a senior Durham City police officer
* Pant Master - the Council's Director of Environmental Services
* Posts within the Mayoral Bodyguard
* Honorary Aldermen

Parishes in the City of Durham District

The central area of the City of Durham (the area covered by the pre-1974 City of Durham and Framwelgate) is not parished. Those parts of the district formerly part of Durham Rural District Council or Brandon and Byshottles Urban District Council are all parished. The current Brandon and Byshottles Parish Council is co-terminous with the pre-1974 UDC and has inherited some of its responsibilities (eg. allotments).

Civil Parishes in the City of Durham District are:
* Bearpark
* Belmont
* Brancepeth
* Brandon and Byshottles
* Cassop-cum-Quarrington
* Coxhoe
* Croxdale and Hett
* Framwellgate Moor
* Kelloe
* Pittington
* Shadforth
* Sherburn
* Shincliffe
* West Rainton
* Witton Gilbert

Composition of the Council

The Council is made up of 50 councillors elected in all-out elections every four years (last elections 2007). Current political composition is Liberal Democrat 30, Labour 17, Independent 3. The 2003 elections saw the Liberal Democrats gain overall political control of the council from Labour, benefiting from boundary changes and substantial gains in Durham's eastern suburbs. Labour had held overall control of the City Council continually since the early 1980s.

External links

* [http://www.boundarycommittee.org.uk/templates/search/document.cfm/6018 Local Government Committee for England Final Recommendations on electoral arrangements in Durham City]
* [http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/pws/Council+and+Democracy+-+County+Durham+Books/ Local History Publications from County Durham Books]