Your council

County Durham: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Durham County Council: Unitary authority (unitary), England, North East; part of the NECA combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E06000047.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

Seascape Academy (primary) — proposed to open; reason recorded: new provision; proposed date 1 December 2026
Seascape Primary School (primary) — open, but proposed to close; reason recorded: for academy; proposed date 30 November 2026

In the last twelve months: 4 opened (3 academy converter, 1 new provision), 6 closed (3 academy converter, 1 closure, 1 for academy, 1 result of amalgamation/merger)

Benfieldside Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 August 2026
Durham High School — closed; reason recorded: closure, 3 July 2026
Hutton Henry CofE (Controlled) Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 November 2025
Our Lady Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary (primary) — closed; reason recorded: for academy, 31 December 2025
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Ushaw Moor (primary) — closed; reason recorded: result of amalgamation/merger, 30 April 2026
Wingate Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 30 September 2025
Benfieldside Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 September 2026
Hutton Henry CofE (Controlled) Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 December 2025
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: new provision, 1 January 2026
Wingate Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 October 2025

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as County Durham reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

County Durham: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£445.5 million
Highways and transport services	£19.7 million
Children's social care	£199.7 million
Adult social care	£223.6 million
Public health	£67.6 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£18.3 million
Cultural and related services	£39.2 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£70.2 million
Planning and development services	£15.2 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£28.5 million
Other services	£32.5 million
Total service expenditure	£1,160.0 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

County Durham in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 538,011 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 43 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £20,261 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £577 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 29.2% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 3.1% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £140,447 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 4.3 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 55.4 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 55.9 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 4.7 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 85.4% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 149.1 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 14,565 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.