Councillors and council meetings
Political structure
Stockton-on-Tees Borough has 56 councillors (known as 'members') who represent 27 wards. Some wards have 1, 2, or 3 members representing them. Elections are held every four years, the most recent happening on May 2023.
There are 56 seats broken down into the following:
- Conservative - 26
- Labour - 20
- Thornaby Independent Association - 4
- Ingleby Barwick Independent Society - 3
- Labour and Co-operative Party - 2
- Independent - 1
The Labour Group consists of 22 councillors (Labour and Labour and Co-operative Party).
Once elected the councillors elect their Leader who then appoints a Cabinet Executive. The Cabinet Executive make the important decisions on how services are provided. Major items, such as the setting of the Council's budget, are decided by all councillors at the Full Council meeting.
View decisions, minutes and reports as well as details on committee memberships.
Live streamed meetings
Council meetings will be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast on the Council's website. The whole of the meeting will be filmed, except where there are confidential or exempt items, and the footage will be on the website for 12 months. A copy of it will also be retained in accordance with the Council's data retention policy.
If you attend and make a representation to the meeting, you will be deemed to have consented to being filmed. When admitted to the Council Chamber you are also consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings for live streaming or training purposes. If you do not wish to have your image captured, please contact Democratic Services prior to attending the meeting.
If there are any technical difficulties with the live streaming, the meeting will still proceed.
To watch a live stream as a meeting is taking place, select the committee and date you wish to view from. If you are joining on a mobile device, you have the option to join with or without Microsoft Teams.
View previously live streamed meetings.
Browse live streamed meetings on Modern Gov.
Cabinet - 14 May 2026
Notice is hereby given that the Cabinet, at its meeting on 14 May 2026, intends to consider the attached executive decision under the Special Urgency provisions contained within the Council's Constitution (Access to Information Procedure Rules, paragraph 3.141).
Notice of Special Urgency Procedure - Regional Fostering (PDF, 84 KB)
Ward surgeries
Local councillors are elected to represent your interests in local matters. You can discuss problems or other matters concerning your area through ward surgeries. Where ward surgeries are not provided, a councillor will arrange a time with you. You can find information about these surgeries on the Councillor webpages.
Tees Valley Combined Authority
Along with the four other Tees Valley Local Authorities, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council work together as part of the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA). Meetings of the Tees Valley Combined Authority are open to the public to attend and copies of their meeting papers can be found on the Tees Valley Combined Authority website.
Councillor Allowances and Expenses
All Members receive a basic allowance and several Members also receive a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) under the Members' Allowances Scheme 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.
We publish an annual list of allowances paid to Members under the scheme over the preceding financial year from 6 April to 5 April. This includes:
- basic allowance
- special responsibility allowance
- dependants' carers' allowance
- travelling and subsistence allowance
- co-optees' allowance
