Teesside

1968–1974: County borough

Before the county of Cleveland was created, the area (including Stockton-on-Tees) existed as a part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, due to most land being south of the Tees. Teesside was created due to Stockton-on-Tees being linked heavily with Thornaby (which had amalgamated with South Stockton/Mandale to form the Borough of Thornaby), Middlesbrough and Redcar by industry.^[2]

Compared to the modern Teesside conurbation, the area was smaller, then excluding towns such as Hartlepool, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm, the latter two being in the Stokesley Rural District until Cleveland was created. The Teesside name is still used as a synonym for Tees Valley with most signage and local business retaining the name.^[3]

1969: Redcliffe-Maud Report

The Royal Commission, proposed in the Redcliffe-Maud Report, a large unitary authority called Teesside. It would have covered what came to be the County of Cleveland in addition to Whitby and Stokesley.

1974–1996: Non-metropolitan county

Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar and Hartlepool

The County of Cleveland was created in 1974. It was smaller and included a county and four borough councils than the Redcliffe-Maud report's single council.

The name was also changed from Teesside to Cleveland as the report's area South of the River Tees corresponded to the Langbaurgh Wapentake, which had the alternative name of Cleveland. Cleveland Police was retained, along with other institutions covering the four boroughs. Each borough became a unitary authority with the county council abolished in 1996.

From 2016: Mayoralty

In 1998 the neighbouring Borough of Darlington gained unitary authority status. Tees Valley was initially a statistical sub-region of North East England across the four former Cleveland boroughs and the Borough of Darlington.

This name and area carried over to an enterprise partnership formed in 2011 and a combined authority created in 2016, twenty years after the abolition of the Cleveland county. The authority is headed by a mayor, presently William Boyle.

Salt

Salt extraction for human consumption and had taken place at Seal Sands since Roman times through the use of panning. This continued throughout the 20th century and left caverns which are now used as liquid/gas storage facilities for the process industry.^[8]

In 1859, rock salt deposits were discovered in Middlesbrough by Henry Bolckow and Vaughan while boring for water. This led to heavy chemical industry moving to the area.

Salt works were established at Haverton Hill in 1882 by the Bell Brothers. It was the first firm to begin large scale salt production in the area, this required some workers in from Cheshire. Salt-making interests of the Bell Brothers were bought by Brunner Mond & Co of Cheshire in 1890. Brunner Mond became a giant of the area's chemical-making in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

During the 20th century, salt extraction on the Tees's north bank (by aqueous hydraulic means) resulted in a number of underground salt cavities that are impervious to gas and liquids. Consequently, these cavities are now used to store both industrial gases and liquids by companies which are members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

Today Venator Materials is based close to Greatham, operating one of the world's largest chemical plants for titanium dioxide manufacturing. It is a brilliant white pigment used in paints, Polo mints^{[citation needed]}, cosmetics, UV sunscreens, plastics, golf balls, the white part of a traffic cone and sports field line markings.

Alkali

In 1860 William James established an alkali company at Cargo Fleet and in 1869 Samuel Sadler also set up a factory nearby. Sadler's works produced synthetic aniline and alzarin dyestuffs and distilled tar. The introduction of the Solvay Process to make alkali in 1872 made nearby Tyneside alkali industry uneconomical but helped Teesside industry which was invigorated by the discovery of further salt deposits at Port Clarence near Seal Sands by Bell Brothers in 1874.^[9]

Ammonia

The chemical industry was established at Billingham in 1918 by the Government for the production of synthetic ammonia, with its intended use being the manufacture of munitions during the Great War.^[10] The 700 acre Grange Farm at Billingham was chosen for the site. However, by the time the plant opened the war was over and its manufacturing techniques outdated. It was taken over by Brunner Mond in 1920 and manufactured synthetic ammonia and fertilisers. Brunner Mond merged with other large scale chemical manufacturers in 1926 to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

Sulphuric acid and fertilisers

Teesside's first chemical works was when Robert Wilson produced sulphuric acid and fertilisers at Urlay Nook near Egglescliffe in 1833.

In 1928, anhydrite was mined from below Billingham for making sulphuric acid, a component for detergent and fertilizer manufacturing.^[9] Ammonia and fertiliser works are operated by CF Fertilisers.

Plastics and nylon

Billingham's plastic manufacturing began in 1934.^[11] This was one of the earliest sites in the world where large-scale manufacture of these materials took place. Another chemical plant was established the following year to make oil and petrol from creosote and coal by a process called hydrogenation. In 1946 another large chemical works opened on Teesside at Wilton,^[12] on the south side of the River Tees. Further lands were purchased by ICI in 1962 at Seal Sands, where land had been reclaimed from the sea, becoming the third large-scale chemical manufacturing site on Teesside.^[9] Today all three Teesside chemical sites at Billingham, Wilton, and Seal Sands remain in use for large-scale chemical manufacture by the members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), and plastics and polymers continue to be manufactured there by Lotte Chemicals(PET), SABIC (HDPE), Victrex (PEEK) and Lucite International (Perspex). Nylon 66 manufacture ceased on Teesside in 2008 with the Invista manufacturing unit closed.

Petrochemical

Coke ovens used in chemical production at Billingham were replaced in 1962 by plants using the steam naphtha process, which enabled use of crude oil as feedstock for a process known as cracking. This proved to be a much cheaper way to produce ethylene, aromatics, petroleum derivatives and other chemicals such as ammonia. From 1964 to 1969 four large oil refineries were erected at the mouth of the Tees, two by Phillips Petroleum and one each by ICI and Shell. Their main purpose was to supply Billingham's chemical industry.^[9] A 138-mile (222 km) pipeline was built in 1968 for the transport of ethylene and linked chemical works on Teesside with chemical plants at Runcorn.^[13] Today, ConocoPhillips operate oil refinery sites while Ensus Energy and Harvest Energy have biorefineries, the latter two produce biodiesel and bioethanol as transport fuels. SABIC operate the ethylene cracker at Wilton.

British Steel Industrial Archive

The British Steel Collection, now housed at Teesside University, contains the records of over forty iron and steel companies based in the Teesside area of the North East of England and covers the period c. 1840–1970. The history of Teesside and its rapid growth during the 19th century is directly linked to the expansion of the railways from Darlington and Stockton towards the mouth of the Tees estuary and the subsequent discovery of ironstone in the Cleveland Hills which attracted iron companies to the area. The British Steel Collection archives the company records of iron and steel companies such as Bolckow & Vaughan, Bell Brothers, Cochrane & Co. Ltd., Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd., South Durham Steel & Iron Co. Ltd., Cargo Fleet Iron Company and Skinningrove Iron Co. Ltd. With records of associated institutions such as the Middlesbrough Exchange Co. Ltd. and the Cleveland Mineowners' Association also being preserved.^[18]