The Future of Hartlepool Starts With Community, Wellbeing & Connection
- Trevor Sherwood
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Hartlepool is a town with a proud identity, deep community roots and a history shaped by resilience, industry and connection.
Positioned on the North East coastline between Middlesbrough and Sunderland, Hartlepool has long been recognised for its maritime heritage, shipbuilding history and strong working-class communities.
From the historic Headland and St Hild’s Abbey to the docks, marina and industrial growth of West Hartlepool, the town has continuously evolved through generations of challenge and change.
Like many coastal communities across the UK, Hartlepool has experienced significant economic and social transformation over recent decades.
The closure of traditional industries, changes in employment patterns and long-term deprivation have had lasting impacts on many neighbourhoods.
Yet despite these challenges, Hartlepool continues to demonstrate resilience, adaptability and strong community spirit.
Today, Hartlepool has a population of approximately 98,100 people, including around 59,900 working-age residents, representing 61% of the population.
The town also has a small but growing ethnic minority population of approximately 3,300 people, accounting for around 4% of residents.
The borough includes communities across Hartlepool itself, Seaton Carew, the Headland and surrounding villages including Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Dalton Piercy and Wynyard.
Its landscape combines coastline, countryside and nature reserves such as Teesmouth, creating a unique identity that blends industrial history with natural beauty.
The local economy has evolved significantly in recent years. While Hartlepool’s industrial identity remains important, employment has diversified into sectors including healthcare, construction, renewables, education and professional services.
There are now around:
2,200 businesses operating across the borough
29,000 jobs within the local economy
Over 10,000 jobs within public sector, health and education roles
Thousands more working across retail, hospitality, construction and manufacturing
Importantly, Hartlepool is a town built largely on small businesses and community enterprise.
Around 87% of local businesses are micro businesses employing fewer than 10 people, demonstrating the importance of local entrepreneurship, grassroots activity and community-led economic growth.
However, alongside this resilience, Hartlepool also faces significant socio-economic and health challenges.
The 2025 Indices of Deprivation ranked Hartlepool amongst the most deprived local authority areas in the country, with 42% of neighbourhoods falling within the most deprived 10% nationally.
Economic inactivity remains significantly higher than the national average, with many residents facing barriers to employment, education, health and opportunity.
These wider pressures directly affect community wellbeing.
Hartlepool also experiences:
Higher crime rates than the national average
Significant levels of child poverty
Lower adult qualification levels
Long-standing health inequalities
Higher levels of adult obesity
Increased social isolation and loneliness within some communities
For organisations like LilyAnne’s Wellbeing, these statistics are not simply numbers on a page. They reflect the everyday experiences of many individuals accessing support across the town.
Poor mental health rarely exists in isolation.
Many people experiencing emotional distress are also facing:
financial pressure
trauma
community disconnection
unemployment or insecure work
barriers accessing traditional services
At LilyAnne’s Wellbeing, we increasingly see the importance of community-level support, early intervention and safe spaces where people feel understood and connected before reaching crisis point.
This is why community connection matters so much.
Hartlepool benefits from a vibrant and active voluntary and community sector, with more than 300 community organisations helping improve wellbeing, reduce isolation and support vulnerable residents across the borough.
These organisations:
create trusted local relationships
support people earlier
reduce loneliness
encourage volunteering and social action
strengthen neighbourhoods
build community resilience
Most importantly, they help people feel that they belong.
Recent engagement work across Hartlepool involving more than 1,400 residents found that the town’s biggest priorities included:
Safety and Security
Health & Wellbeing
Community Cohesion
Regeneration and High Streets
These findings reflect something much deeper than infrastructure alone. They reflect a desire for stronger communities, safer neighbourhoods, better wellbeing and more opportunities for people to shape the future of the town themselves.
This is where the idea of community power becomes so important.
Community power is not simply about consultation. It is about ensuring local people, grassroots organisations and communities themselves have genuine influence over the services, support and future development of the places they live.
It means recognising that communities often already hold the solutions, relationships and lived experience needed to improve outcomes locally.
For Hartlepool, the future of wellbeing cannot rely solely on systems working in isolation. It requires:
stronger community relationships
community-led spaces
preventative wellbeing approaches
neurodiversity-friendly environments
opportunities for volunteering and connection
local organisations working collaboratively
communities being trusted to shape local solutions
Hartlepool has always been a town built on resilience, hard work and people looking after one another.
The future of the town will not only be shaped by regeneration projects or infrastructure investment. It will also be shaped by belonging, connection, wellbeing and the strength of the communities that continue to hold Hartlepool together every single day.
The future of Hartlepool starts with people.It starts with community.It starts with wellbeing and connection.
This article was written by Trevor Sherwood,BSc (Hons) CEO of LilyAnne’s Wellbeing, a Hartlepool-based charity supporting mental health, loneliness, and neurodiversity. Trevor is a qualified counsellor and psychologist, with extensive experience working within community mental health services and developing accessible support pathways for individuals experiencing autism, anxiety, and social isolation.
