Tyne and Wear Metropolitan council in ne England, formed in 1974 from parts of the former counties of Northumberland and Durham, and including the former county borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, which is its administrative centre. A highly industrialized area, its staple industries of coal-mining, iron and steel production, and shipbuilding declined after the 1920s. There were signs of a recovery in the 1990s, based on various light industries. Area: 537sq km (207sq mi). Pop. (2000 est.) 1,103,600.

Tyne and Wear was one of the six English metropolitan county councils that existed from 1974 until their abolition in 1986. The Redcliffe-Maud Report of 1969 followed the royal commissions of 1937 and 1963 in suggesting a single local authority for the industrial area of Tyneside, but the Heath government added the Wearside borough of Sunderland. The county council (always Labour controlled) had fewer conflicts with its constituent districts and a less confrontational relationship with central government than some other metropolitan counties. Tyne and Wear is still used as a geographical description for the former council's territory.

Christopher N. Lanigan