South Tyneside

South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear in North East England.

It is bordered by four other boroughs - Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, and North Tyneside to the north. The border county of Northumberland lies further north. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the County Borough of South Shields along with the municipal borough of Jarrow and the urban districts of Boldon and Hebburn from County Durham.

South Tyneside forms part of the Tyneside conurbation, the sixth largest in the United Kingdom, with a geographical area of 64.43 km2 (24.88 sq mi) and an estimated population of 153,700 (Mid-year 2010). It is bordered to the east by the North Sea and to the north by the River Tyne. A Green Belt of 23.64 km2 (9.13 sq mi) is at its southern boundary.

The main administrative centre and largest town is South Shields. Other riverside towns are Jarrow and Hebburn, while the villages of Cleadon, Whitburn and The Boldons border the South Tyneside green belt which borders Wearside to the south at Sunderland.

South Tyneside is represented by two Members of Parliament with two constituencies at South Shields and Jarrow (which also serves Hebburn and the Urban Fringe villages).