Answer the following question: Information:  - Hartlepool is a town in County Durham, England. The town lies on the North Sea coast, north of Middlesbrough and south of Sunderland. The Borough of Hartlepool includes outlying villages such as Seaton Carew, Greatham and Elwick.  - The regions (formerly known as the Government Office Regions; GORs) are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government. While they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas (constituencies) for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament. Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, established in the 1940s for statistical purposes.  - Middlesbrough is a large industrial town on the south bank of the River Tees in North East England, founded in 1830. The local council, a unitary authority, is Middlesbrough Borough Council. In 2011 it had a total resident population of 138,400 for the borough and 174,700 for the wider Middlesbrough built-up area subdivision, which itself is part of the larger built-up area of Teesside and had an overall population of 376,333 at the 2011 census.  - Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in the ceremonial county of County Durham, North East England. It is the major settlement in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees. The town sits within the Tees Valley region of the North East of England, and the wider borough had a population of 191,000 in 2011 estimates.  - The Association of North East Councils is a partnership body made up of representatives of local authorities in North East England . It is a regional grouping of the Local Government Association . In April 2009 it assumed the role of the regional Local Authority Leaders '' Board following the abolition of the North East Assembly .  - Alnwick is a large market town in north Northumberland, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.  - Northumberland is a county in North East England. The northernmost county of England, it borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south and Scotland to the north. To the east is the North Sea coastline with a long distance path. The county town is Alnwick although the county council is in Morpeth (for the moment, as there are plans to move it to nearby Ashington). The northernmost point of Northumberland and England is at Marshall Meadows Bay.  - Wearside is an area of North East England centred on the continuous urban area of Sunderland by the River Wear, and in the wider sense, including separate neighbouring settlements such as Seaham.  - Newcastle upon Tyne, commonly known as Newcastle, is a city in Tyne and Wear, North East England, 103 miles (166 km) south of Edinburgh and 277 miles (446 km) north of London on the northern bank of the River Tyne, from the North Sea. Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East and forms the core of Tyneside conurbation, the eighth most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Newcastle is a member of the English Core Cities Group and is a member of the Eurocities network of European cities. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it became a county of itself, a status it retained until becoming part of Tyne and Wear in 1974. The regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. Newcastle also houses Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, as well as Northumbria University.  - Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England around the urban centre of Middlesbrough that is also made up of the towns of Billingham, Redcar, Stockton-on-Tees, Thornaby and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974the County Borough of Teesside. Teesside remains an important centre for heavy industry, although the number of people employed has declined. Traditional industries, primarily steelmaking (British Steel) and chemical manufacture (Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)), have been replaced to a large extent by high technology activities, science development and service sector roles.  - The Tees Valley is a combined authority area in the North East of England nestled between North Yorkshire and County Durham and consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees, the latter four previously formed the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland between 1974 and 1996. Much of the area formed the County Borough of Teesside before 1974.  - County Durham (locally ), occasionally Durhamshire, is a county in North East England. The county town is Durham, a cathedral city, whilst the largest settlement is Darlington. It borders Tyne and Wear to the north east, Northumberland to the north, Cumbria to the west and North Yorkshire to the south. Historically, the county included southern Tyne and Wear, including Gateshead and Sunderland.  - Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England which includes a number of settlements on the banks of the River Tyne. As defined by the Office for National Statistics, the conurbation comprises Newcastle upon Tynea city forming the urban coreas well as a number of other towns including Gateshead, Tynemouth, Wallsend, South Shields, and Jarrow. The population of the conurbation was 774,891 according to the 2011 census.  - North East England is one of the nine regions of England that are classified at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and the Tees Valley. The region is home to three large conurbations: Teesside, Wearside, and Tyneside, the latter of which is the largest of the three and the eighth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom. There are only three cities in the region; Newcastle upon Tyne is the largest city in the region with a population of just under 280,000, followed by Sunderland, both of which are located in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. The city of Durham is the county town of County Durham. Other large settlements in the region include Darlington; Gateshead; Hartlepool; Middlesbrough; South Shields; Stockton-on-Tees; Alnwick and Washington.  - Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in the North East region of England around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. It consists of the five metropolitan boroughs of South Tyneside, North Tyneside, City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and City of Sunderland. It is bounded on the east by the North Sea, and has borders with Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south.  - Gateshead is a large town in Tyne and Wear, England, and the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The local authority of Gateshead is also the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Gateshead lay in the County of County Durham. In 1835 it became part of the Gateshead County Borough. After the Local Government Act 1972, in 1974, Gateshead became part of the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough local authority, and part of the Tyne & Wear Metropolitan County. The town lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne. Gateshead and Newcastle are joined by seven bridges across the Tyne, including the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. The town is known for its architecture, including the Sage Gateshead, the Angel of the North and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. Residents of Gateshead, like the rest of Tyneside, are referred to as Geordies. Gateshead's population in 2011 was 120,046.  - South Shields is a coastal town at the mouth of the River Tyne, England, about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne. Historically in County Durham, the town has a population of 75,337, the third largest in Tyneside after Newcastle and Gateshead. It is part of the metropolitan borough of South Tyneside which includes the towns of Jarrow and Hebburn. South Shields is represented in Parliament by Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck. In 2011, South Shields had a population of 75,337.  - A County town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within the county, or it has been established over time as the "de facto" main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its original meaning of where the county administration or county hall is based. In fact, many county towns are no longer part of the administrative county. For example, Nottingham is administered by a unitary authority entirely separate from the rest of Nottinghamshire. Many county towns are classified as cities, but all are referred to as county towns regardless of whether city status is held or not.  - Darlington is a large market town in County Durham, in North East England, and part of the Tees Valley. With a population of 106,000 in 2011, the town lies on the River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees. The town owes much of its development to the influence of local Quaker families in the Victorian era, and is famous as the terminus of Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger railway. The town is often colloquially referred to as 'Darlo'.  - The Local Government Association (LGA) is an organisation which comprises local authorities in England and Wales. The LGA seeks to promote better local government; it maintains communication between officers in different local authorities to develop best practice. It also represents the interests of local government to national government. 435 authorities are members of the LGA as of 2016, including 349 English councils (out of 352) and the 22 Welsh councils via the Welsh LGA, as well number of smaller authorities including fire authorities and national parks. The Chief Executive is Mark Lloyd.    After reading the paragraphs above, choose the best answer for the entity that related to 'association of north east councils' with the relationship of 'headquarters location'.  Choices: - alnwick  - billingham  - cumbria  - darlington  - durham  - edinburgh  - england  - gateshead  - hartlepool  - industry  - london  - middlesbrough  - newcastle upon tyne  - nottingham  - south shields  - stockton  - sunderland  - teesside  - tyneside  - united kingdom  - washington
Answer:
newcastle upon tyne