North East England

A referendum held on 4 November 2004 rejected the establishment of an elected regional assembly for the region.

Local government

The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

	County /unitary	Districts
EnglandNorthEastNumbered.png	1. Northumberland †		Blyth Valley Wansbeck Castle Morpeth Tynedale Alnwick Berwick-upon-Tweed
	Tyne and Wear *		2. Newcastle upon Tyne 3. Gateshead 4. North Tyneside 5. South Tyneside 6. Sunderland
	County Durham	7. County Durham †	City of Durham Easington Sedgefield Teesdale Wear Valley Derwentside Chester-le-Street
		8. Darlington
		9. Stockton-on-Tees (partly in North Yorkshire)
		10. Hartlepool
	North Yorkshire (part only)	11. Redcar and Cleveland
		12. Middlesbrough

Key: shire county = † | metropolitan county = *

History

The region was created in 1994 and was originally defined as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Cleveland. As part of a reform of local government Cleveland has since been abolished and several unitary districts created.

The region is now considered to consist of four distinct 'sub-regions':
*County Durham
*Northumberland
*Tyne and Wear
*Tees Valley (former Cleveland area plus Darlington)

Biodiversity

The region has a rich natural heritage, which includes stretches of coast and extensive upland tracts that are of European nature conservation importance for their habitats and bird-life, and the Magnesian Limestone grasslands of East Durham - a habitat found nowhere else in the world.

See also

* Bands and musicians from the North East

External links

*Government Office for the North East
*North East Regional Assembly
*One NorthEast - Regional Development Agency
*The North East Forum - Discuss Northern issues
*The North East Biodiversity Forum
*North East Business Information & Forum Website