County Durham.
Labour Party-controlled unitary. £658m net revenue. 58 wards across 6 parliamentary constituencies.
31 May 2026
Labour Party chamber, Labour Party MPs.
County Durham is a unitary controlled by Labour Party (50 of 117 seats). Net revenue is £658m for 2025-26. It covers 58 wards spanning 6 parliamentary constituencies.
Who sits in the chamber.
Labour Party 43% · last contested 6 May 2021
Councillors — the people.
| Councillor | Ward | Elected | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christine Bell | Ind | Annfield Plain | 2021 |
| Joan Nicholson | Ind | Annfield Plain | 2021 |
| Jim Atkinson | Lab | Aycliffe East | 2021 |
| Neville Jones | LD | Aycliffe East | 2021 |
| David Sutton-Lloyd | Con | Aycliffe North Middridge | 2021 |
| Michael Stead | LD | Aycliffe North Middridge | 2021 |
| Tony Stubbs | Con | Aycliffe North Middridge | 2021 |
| Eddy Adam | Lab | Aycliffe West | 2021 |
| Ken Robson | Ind | Aycliffe West | 2021 |
| George Morland Richardson | Con | Barnard Castle East | 2021 |
| James Michael Rowlandson | Con | Barnard Castle East | 2021 |
| Richard Andrew Bell | Con | Barnard Castle West | 2021 |
Where revenue comes from.
This is a grant-heavy unitary authoritie: 46% from council tax vs the cohort median of 59%.
Source · MHCLG — Final LGFS 2025-26 Core Spending Power table · derived (CT exact; grants/rates split from SFA baseline)
Band-D bill.
| Council slice | £2,031 |
| County / upper-tier | £0 |
| Police | £282 |
| Fire & rescue | £123 |
| GLA precept | £0 |
| Parish average | £115 |
| Total Band-D | £2,551 |
Parish precepts apply on top, vary by parish
Use the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings.
How does County Durham split its revenue across services, compared with peer unitary authoritie-class councils? Each row is one of the ten standard service buckets. The vertical line at the centre is the cohort median share; the coloured square is where this council sits. Squares to the right of centre mean a bigger share of revenue than the median peer; to the left, a smaller share.
The subtitle on each row (“X% of net spend”) is what share of this council’s revenue goes to that service. The rank (“15 of 61”) is where this council sits within the cohort, sorted by that share descending. The delta (“+26% vs median”) is a relative reading: the council allocates 26% more of its revenue to that service than the median peer would. A small absolute difference can still be a big relative one.
Higher share doesn’t mean waste — it can reflect demographic need (more older residents), rurality, or a policy choice (e.g. keeping a service in-house). Lower share doesn’t mean efficiency — some councils move costs to fees, ringfenced accounts, or grants. £-per-head would be sharper than share-of-revenue; LAD population is pending ingest. Comparisons are within the same council type only.
| Constituency | Wards | % of council | Current MP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Durham | 13 | 22% | Luke Akehurst | Lab |
| Easington | 12 | 21% | Grahame Morris | Lab |
| Bishop Auckland | 11 | 19% | Sam Rushworth | Lab |
| Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor | 11 | 19% | Alan Strickland | Lab |
| City of Durham | 10 | 17% | Mary Kelly Foy | Lab |
| Blaydon and Consett | 6 | 10% | Liz Twist | Lab |
Sources, methods & last update
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (historic)
Core Spending Power table · 2025-26
vs 62 other unitary authorities
Police, Fire, Parish on top
Not yet ingested for County Durham
2023 boundaries
Pending ingest at LAD level