Who Represents You in Hebburn: Your MP, Councillors and Council

Knowing who represents you is the first step to getting things done, whether that is a blocked gully on your street, a comment on a planning application, or a national issue you want to raise with your MP. Hebburn sits within the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside, and its residents are served by three layers of representation: the local council, elected ward councillors, and a Member of Parliament at Westminster. Here is a plain, non-partisan guide to who does what, and how to reach them.

South Tyneside Council

Hebburn is one of the towns in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside, so day-to-day local services are run by South Tyneside Council. As a metropolitan borough council, it is a single all-purpose authority, which means it handles the full range of local services rather than sharing them with a separate county council.

In practice, that covers a lot of what shapes everyday life: household bins and recycling, roads and pavements, street lighting, schools and school admissions, adult social care and children's services, planning and building control, libraries, parks, environmental health, and council tax. If you need to report a pothole, sort a missed bin, apply for a school place, or comment on a development, South Tyneside Council is almost always the right first port of call. Most of it can now be done through the council's website at southtyneside.gov.uk.

The council handles: bins, roads, planning, schools, social care, libraries and council tax.

Hebburn's wards and councillors

South Tyneside is divided into 18 wards, and each ward elects three councillors, giving the council 54 members in total. Hebburn is covered by two of these wards: Hebburn North and Hebburn South. Between them they return six councillors, and those councillors are your most direct point of contact for local matters.

Ward councillors are there to represent residents. They can take up casework on your behalf, chase the council on problems that are not being resolved, speak up on planning and licensing decisions, and feed local views into the council's committees and full council meetings. Councillors are elected in stages, with a proportion of seats up for election in most years, so the names change over time.

Because of that, rather than list individuals here, the reliable way to find your current councillors is the council's own postcode tool. Use the Find your councillors page, enter your address or postcode, and it will show the three councillors for your ward along with their contact details and party. The same page lets you browse the full list of councillors by name, by party, or by ward.

Your ward councillors handle: local casework, potholes, planning objections and ward issues. Find yours by postcode on the council website.

Your Member of Parliament

For national matters, Hebburn is part of the Jarrow and Gateshead East parliamentary constituency, one of the seats redrawn under the 2024 boundary changes. Your MP represents the constituency in the House of Commons, votes on legislation, and can take up individual cases with government departments and public bodies.

As of the 2024 general election, the MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East is Kate Osborne, who represents the Labour Party. She had previously been the MP for the former Jarrow constituency from 2019, before the boundaries were redrawn. An MP is a useful contact for issues that are the responsibility of central government rather than the council, such as benefits and pensions, immigration and passports, tax, and the NHS at a national level.

MPs and their parties can change at general elections, and their surgery arrangements vary, so if you want to check the current MP for your address or find their contact details and surgery times, the definitive source is the UK Parliament's own service. Enter your postcode at members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP to confirm who represents you and how to get in touch.

Your MP handles: national issues, government departments, benefits, tax, immigration and law changes.

Having your say

Representation works both ways, and there are several straightforward ways to take part. The most basic is to make sure you can vote: you can register at gov.uk/register-to-vote, and remember that you now need an accepted form of photo ID to vote in person at a polling station.

Beyond elections, you can contact your councillors or MP directly about a problem or a campaign, and a clear email setting out the issue and what you would like done is usually the best approach. When the council consults on plans, from local development frameworks to specific planning applications, anyone can comment within the stated deadline, and planning applications for your area can be viewed and commented on through the council's planning pages. Full council and committee meetings are generally open to the public, and their agendas and papers are published in advance on the council website, so you can follow decisions that affect Hebburn.

Get involved by: registering to vote, contacting your reps, and commenting on planning applications and consultations.

Frequently asked questions

Which council covers Hebburn? Hebburn is in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside, so South Tyneside Council provides its local services, including bins, roads, schools, social care, planning and libraries.

Who is the MP for Hebburn? Hebburn is in the Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency. Following the 2024 general election, the MP is Kate Osborne of the Labour Party. You can confirm the current MP for your address at members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP.

How do I find my local councillor in Hebburn? Hebburn is split between the Hebburn North and Hebburn South wards, each with three councillors. Use the Find your councillors postcode tool on the South Tyneside Council website to see who represents your address and how to contact them.

Have a suggestion or correction? Get in touch.