Borough of Hartlepool

The Borough of Hartlepool is a unitary authority area with borough status in County Durham, England. Hartlepool Borough Council became a unitary authority in 1996; 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.

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. The Hartlepool constituency has been coterminous with the borough since 1983.

The neighbouring districts are the County Durham district and Stockton-on-Tees; the borough also adjoins Redcar and Cleveland across the mouth of the River Tees.