Chris Cooke | |
---|---|
Mayor of Middlesbrough | |
Assumed office 4 May 2023 | |
Deputy | Philippa Storey |
Preceded by | Andy Preston |
Personal details | |
Born | 1990 (age 33–34) Middlesbrough,Cleveland,England |
Political party | Labour |
Chris Cooke (born 1990) is a British Labour Party politician. Since May 2023,he has been the directly elected Mayor of Middlesbrough. [1] By virtue of being Mayor of Middlesbrough,he is a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority Board and the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel.
Cooke was born in 1990 in Middlesbrough,Cleveland,England. [2] [3] He grew up in care. [1] He was educated at St Peter's Secondary School,a Catholic school in South Bank,Redcar and Cleveland. [2]
After school,Cooke began an apprenticeship at Laurence Jackson School in Guisborough as an IT technician. He remained at the school after completing his apprenticeship. Some time after being elected a councillor in 2019,he left his IT job and became a community cohesion co-ordinator at Streets Ahead,a charitable help and advice centre in Middlesbrough. [2]
On 2 May 2019,Cooke was elected as one of three councillors to represent the Newport Ward on Middlesbrough Council. [4]
On 4 May 2023,he was elected Mayor of Middlesbrough with 10,956 votes,defeating the incumbent Andy Preston by 760 votes. [5]
Shortly after his election,Cooke expressed the need for a change of culture within Middlesbrough Council stating there to be “an adversarial culture between politicians and officers”. [6] He vowed the council he leads would become "a service-led organisation",and that children's social care would get his full focus. [7]
As Mayor of Middlesbrough,he is a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet. [8] He is also a member of the [[]]. [9]
Cooke is married to Julia Cooke,who serves a councillor on Middlesbrough Council. [2] [10] He is a Christian. [2]
Yarm,also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees,is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees,North Yorkshire,England. It is in Teesdale with a town centre on a small meander of the River Tees. To the south-east,it extends to the River Leven,to the south it extends into the Kirklevington.
Middlesbrough is a town in North Yorkshire,England. The town lies near the mouth of the River Tees,forming part of the Teesside built-up area,and is located north of the North York Moors National Park. The wider Borough of Middlesbrough had a population 148,215 at the 2021 UK census. Middlesbrough is the largest town of the wider urban Tees Valley area,which had a population of 678,400 in 2021.
Tees Valley is a combined authority area in Northern England,around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley;the local term for the valley is Teesdale. The combined authority covers five council areas:Darlington,Hartlepool,Middlesbrough,Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
The Borough of Darlington is a local government district with borough status in County Durham,England. Since 1997 Darlington Borough Council has been a unitary authority,being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council;it is independent from Durham County Council. It is named after its largest settlement,the town of Darlington,where the council is based. The borough also includes a rural area surrounding the town which contains several villages. The population of the borough at the 2021 census was 107,800,of which over 86% (93,015) lived in the built-up area of Darlington itself.
The Borough of Hartlepool is a local government district with borough status in County Durham,England. Since 1996 Hartlepool Borough Council has been a unitary authority,being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council;it is independent from Durham County Council. It is named after its largest settlement,Hartlepool,where the council is based. The borough also includes a rural area to the west of the town. The population of the borough at the 2021 census was 92,571,of which over 95% (87,995) lived in the built-up area of Hartlepool itself.
Middlesbrough Council,also known as Middlesbrough Borough Council,is the local authority for Middlesbrough,in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire,England. Since 1996 it has been a unitary authority,being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The council is led by the directly elected Mayor of Middlesbrough.
Middlesbrough Council is a unitary authority in North Yorkshire,England. Until 1 April 1996 it was a non-metropolitan district in Cleveland. Since 2002 it has also had a directly elected mayor.
The Mayor of Middlesbrough is the executive mayor of the borough of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire,England. The incumbent since 2023 is Chris Cooke.
On 29 November 2012,a by-election was held for the UK House of Commons constituency of Middlesbrough. The by-election was caused by the death of its Member of Parliament,Sir Stuart Bell. It was held on the same day as by-elections in Croydon North and Rotherham.
Andrew Joseph McDonald is a British politician and solicitor serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough since 2012. A member of the Labour Party,he sat as an independent MP from October 2023 to March 2024 after being placed under "precautionary suspension" for a period of three months,pending an investigation from the Party whip. McDonald had the Labour whip reinstated on 11 March 2024.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees,which straddles the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire in England. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority,being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. It therefore provides services including Council Tax billing,libraries,social services,town planning,waste collection and disposal,and it is a local education authority. Since 2016 the council has been a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority,which has been led by the directly elected Tees Valley Mayor since 2017.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is the local authority for Redcar and Cleveland,a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire,England. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority,being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The council was created in 1974 as Langbaurgh Borough Council and was a lower-tier authority until 1996 when it was renamed and became a unitary authority,taking over county-level functions from the abolished Cleveland County Council.
Christopher David Budd is a British politician. He served as the Mayor of Middlesbrough from 2015 until 2019. When elected,he became the second person to hold the post,having succeeded Ray Mallon.
Andy Preston is an English politician,charity chairman,and businessman. He was the elected Mayor of Middlesbrough from May 2019 until May 2023.
The inaugural Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote system. Subsequent elections will be held in May 2021 and every four years after 2024.
Ben Houchen,Baron Houchen of High Leven,is a British Conservative politician and life peer. He has been Mayor of the Tees Valley since 2017,winning the inaugural mayoral election in the combined authority. Houchen was re-elected in 2021 and won a third term in 2024.
The Borough of Middlesbrough is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire,England,based around the town of Middlesbrough in the north of the county. Since 1996,its council,Middlesbrough Council,has been a unitary authority. The borough is part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority,along with the boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees,Redcar and Cleveland,Hartlepool and Darlington. There are two parish councils in the area of the borough of Middlesbrough,Nunthorpe and Stainton and Thornton respectively.
Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) is a publicly-owned mayoral development corporation created to fund,manage,and accelerate regeneration in Middlesbrough town centre and Middlehaven,England.
The 2023 Middlesbrough Borough Council election took place on 4 May 2023 to elect all 46 members of Middlesbrough Council and the directly-elected Mayor of Middlesbrough. This was on the same day as other local elections across England.
The 2024 Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley,part of the 2024 United Kingdom local elections. The Conservative incumbent mayor and member of the House of Lords,Ben Houchen,was re-elected with 53.6% of the vote.