Durham County Council

Durham County Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
Leadership
Chair	Joan Nicholson, Derwentside Independents since 29 March 2023[1][2]
Leader	Amanda Hopgood, Liberal Democrat since 26 May 2021[3]
Chief Executive	John Hewitt since December 2020[4]
Structure
Seats	126 councillors[5]
Political groups	Administration (66)   Conservative (21)   Independent (21)   Liberal Democrats (17)   Derwentside Ind. (4)   North East Party (2)   Green (1) Other parties (60)   Labour (56)   Independent (4)
Joint committees	North East Combined Authority
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	6 May 2021
Next election	1 May 2025
Meeting place
County Hall, Aykley Heads, Durham, DH1 5UL
Website
www.durham.gov.uk

Durham County Council is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of County Durham in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, having taken over district-level functions when the county's districts were abolished. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of County Durham, which additionally includes Darlington, Hartlepool and the parts of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees. The county council has its headquarters at County Hall in Durham.

The council has been under no overall control since the 2021 election, being run by a coalition of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Derwentside Independents, Green Party, and most of the independents, led by Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Hopgood. The council is a member of the North East Combined Authority.