Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

 in North East England

North East England

North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

. It was originally formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county

Administrative county

An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....

 of Northumberland and reformed in 1974 to cover a the newly formed non-metropolitan county of Northumberland. As part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England

2009 structural changes to local government in England

Structural changes to local government in England were effected on 1 April 2009, whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in parts of the country which previously operated a 'two-tier' system of counties and districts...

 it became a unitary authority with the same boundaries, this disregarded the referendum held in 2005 in which the population voted against the forming of a Unitary authority. For Eurostat

Eurostat

Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...

 purposes the area under the jurisdiction of Northumberland County Council is a NUTS 3 region (code UKC21) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region

NUTS 2 statistical regions of the United Kingdom

In the NUTS codes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , there are 38 level 2 statistical regions.-List of NUTS 2 statistical regions:-See also:* NUTS of the United Kingdom...

.

The last election for the County Council was as a county council only, on 1 May 2008.

Naming of the new Unitary Authority

Throughout 2008, the people of Northumberland were consulted about the new name of the unitary authority. The choice was between having the name of the incumbent county council as the name for the new unitary authority - Northumberland County Council or whether a brand new name should be given - Northumberland Council. Online polls were held and the votes of staff within the former district councils were collated and overall, the name of the incumbent county council was preferred on a ratio of nearly 2:1.

On 17 December 2008 it was decided that the new name would be Northumberland County Council. The Chairman of the Council stated that:

Having considered the findings of this consultation, it has been decided to call the new authority Northumberland County Council. It is important to reiterate that whilst the single unitary will adopt the name of an existing council, this is emphatically not a County Council takeover. As of 1 April 2009, all existing Northumberland councils will be abolished to make way for a brand new organisation, with new vision, values, and behaviours.

Legally however, the County Council remains the same body as at present, simply assuming the functions of the districts.

Composition

Following the election of 2008

United Kingdom local elections, 2008

The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils....

, the Northumberland County Council has no overall control

No overall control

Within the context of local councils of the United Kingdom, the term No Overall Control refers to a situation in which no single party achieves a majority of seats and is analogous to a hung parliament...

, with the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 being the largest group on the Council.

Affiliation		Members
	Liberal Democrat Group Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...	25
	Conservative and Independent Group Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	19
	Labour Group Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	17
	Independent Group Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	5
	Independent Liberal Democrat Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1
Total		67