Derwentside District
Shown within County Durham
Geography
Status:	District
Admin. County:	County Durham
Area: - Total	Ranked 168th 270.79 km²
Admin. HQ:	Consett
ONS code:	20UD
Demographics
Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density	Ranked 268th 85,133 314 / km²
Ethnicity:	99.4% White
Politics
Derwentside District Council http://www.derwentside.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:	Labour
MPs:	Kevan Jones, Hilary Armstrong

Derwentside is a local government district in County Durham, England, named after the River Derwent. It sits to the west of Chester-le-Street and to the north and east of the Wear Valley district.

Its main towns are Consett and Stanley, with the district council offices on Consett's Medomsley Road. The rest of the district is semi-rural, with numerous former pit villages running into one another.

In the past, Derwentside was famous both for its steel industry and coal mining. Since their closure, the district has struggled with unemployment, although recent European Union funding has provided a boost to local business.

European money assisted in the creation of, for its time, a highly innovative community internet project. The Derwentside Infonet provided free dialup internet access to community groups, in the mid to late 1990s.

The district was formed on April 1, 1974 by the merger of Consett and Stanley urban districts with Lanchester Rural District .

External link

• Derwentside history and information