What does Middlesbrough need to do to become a city?

fmttmadmin said:
But surely you are a Middlesbrough FC fan rather than Stockton Town.
Isn't the Boro the single highest profile organisation on Teesside?
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Yes but i'm also a Stocktonian. Should the profile of the respective football club really play a part in whether either town attains City status? There's a multitude of cities that don't have a professional club let alone a high profile club. See Sunderland for example :cool:
 
I don’t really worry about not being a city, but perhaps where the Government is probably going to pass a bill designating Rwanda as “a safe place for asylum and immigration “, Middlesbrough Council could pass a bylaw renaming MFC as Middlesbrough City FC.
 
TeaCider said:
In the 2021 census:

Middlesbrough - 143,900
Southbank - 5,433
Eston - 7,419
Grangetown - 6,388

Total - 163,140

Reading, Luton, Bolton, Swindon, Northampton and a load of other towns would still be bigger.

I presume that there are plenty of outlying areas to other towns like Reading that could be lumped in to make them bigger than a Greater Middlesbrough too.
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Reading is massive, and if you include the urban area, its 350k. Town itself is 250k+ Supposedly gets kicked back for a city because it wont be granted a royal charter due to its proximity to Windsor, which prides itself as the capital of Royal Berkshire. Town is not going to apply for city status no more.
 
Uncle_Marbles said:
Reading is massive, and if you include the urban area, its 350k. Town itself is 250k+ Supposedly gets kicked back for a city because it wont be granted a royal charter due to its proximity to Windsor, which prides itself as the capital of Royal Berkshire. Town is not going to apply for city status no more.
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The town is about 160k isn’t it, although yes, it’s a big urban area, but not as populous as Middlesbrough, thornaby, Stockton and Redcar .
 
I'm in favour of one local authority and a city of Teesside, a bit like they did with Stoke on Trent.

Progressives of course argued for a Cleveland super authority, rather than the 5 unitary authorities that the Tories put on us in 1996 under John Major. Labour voted against the unitary authorities in favour of one larger authority, this scared the Tories because they felt they would set up a supper Labour strong hold like Liverpool
 
Release Stockton and Billingham back in to the wilderness.

Reclaim Yarm and Thornaby and make a city on the south bank of the Tees.
 
fmttmadmin said:
But surely you are a Middlesbrough FC fan rather than Stockton Town.
Isn't the Boro the single highest profile organisation on Teesside?
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Perhaps, with the demise of ICI and British Steel but James Cook Hospital is more important to the local population, together with North Tees Hospital, the bus services, GPs, Tesco, ASDA, Lidl, Aldi etc. Far more users, less bullshyt media coverage

It's high profile because of the amount of air time it gets, like the rest of football, the club is less important to the people of Teesside than many other things in the area.
 
Muttley said:
I'd say that currently Stockton has a better case for being a city than Middlesbrough. In 2025 we have the 200th Anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Perhaps Stockton and Darlo to become cities then.
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That’s a good point. Also ties in with the huge and progressive re-development of the high street. Stockton and Middlesbrough appear to be heading in opposite directions.
 
Humpty said:
That’s a good point. Also ties in with the huge and progressive re-development of the high street. Stockton and Middlesbrough appear to be heading in opposite directions.
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And geographically not easy to rectify in post industrial Middlesbrough. Stockton went through its industrial downturn a very long time ago
 
fmttmadmin said:
You are forgetting the Tees is still very much a working river at Middlesbrough - A V Dawson Port of Middlesbrough and across the Tees is Wilton Engineering are both extremely busy industrial complexes.
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That is very true, but it’s activity that largely goes unnoticed because it’s industrial. Stockton has the High Street about to be opened up to the river and has homes, businesses and colleges right next to it. Yarm is right on the river too, so the perception is different.

Middlesbrough has the broken down Transporter and looking across the river at match days isn’t the best. Just nothing but blank spaces or heavy industry.

Newcastle transformed its city centre based on the Tyne. It went from abandoned old buildings and businesses to what it is now. Not saying that can happen for Middlesbrough of course. The Town itself doesn’t seem to have been built with a riverside ever in the thinking.

Another terrible decision in hindsight was putting the A66 right through the heart of what could be a cracking part of town.
 
It’s a massive shame that this opportunity always seems to bring up more division between people arguing about made up boundary lines that don’t really matter. Anyone who has visited the area can tell immediately it has the feel of a large urban area and most would assume it’s already a city.

It’s a shame about the decline of the town centre, 15 years ago it was ina much better place.

In a an area with significant economic and societal issues, there is much to be proud of - the natural assets of river, countryside and sea, the rich history of industry, university, a range of newer upcoming areas of business, national trust sites, etc… Anything to increase the profile of the good things would be great.
 
Nero said:
Middlesbrough has the broken down Transporter and looking across the river at match days isn’t the best. Just nothing but blank spaces or heavy industry.
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The Transporter is the responsibility of both Middlesbrough and Stockton councils.
 
Air Resistance said:
It’s a massive shame that this opportunity always seems to bring up more division between people arguing about made up boundary lines that don’t really matter. Anyone who has visited the area can tell immediately it has the feel of a large urban area and most would assume it’s already a city.

It’s a shame about the decline of the town centre, 15 years ago it was ina much better place.

In a an area with significant economic and societal issues, there is much to be proud of - the natural assets of river, countryside and sea, the rich history of industry, university, a range of newer upcoming areas of business, national trust sites, etc… Anything to increase the profile of the good things would be great.
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Agree with everything said here.
It's also a crying shame that all the beautiful old buildings in Boro have been either pulled down or left to rot.
Newcastle and the other big cities of the north seem to have found a way to utilise and modernise their historic buildings without destroying their heritage.
 
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