Sunderland Council in the context of City Hall, Sunderland

The North East Combined Authority (NECA) is a combined authority in North East England. It has a directly-elected Mayor and seven member councils: two are unitary authorities (Durham and Northumberland) and five are metropolitan borough councils (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland). The combined authority's area and the separate Tees Valley devolved region occupy the wider statistical region of North East England.

The authority was announced on 28 December 2022 in the North East devolution deal. On 6 March 2024, the Government announced the North East deeper devolution deal, which allowed the new authority to absorb multiple previous devolved bodies and gave NECA increased devolved powers. The first election for the authority took place on 2 May 2024. The replacement of both the non-mayoral North East Combined Authority and the North of Tyne Combined Authority happened on 7 May 2024. The new combined authority was operational by the end of May 2024.