“SHOCKING REVELATION: Mayor of Teesside seals secret deal to transfer ownership of Hartlepool – What happens next will blow your mind!”

The Conservative Party’s mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen has been accused of secrecy after documents relating to a third transfer of public assets to his region were leaked to the Financial Times. Houchen has struck a deal with Hartlepool council to take over key civic buildings in a process that has not previously been made public. If agreed, the Hartlepool properties, and the planning powers over them, will be handed over to the new Hartlepool Mayoral Development Corporation, a local regeneration body chaired by the mayor. Houchen has also set up an MDC in Middlesbrough, which will take over assets from the council, despite councilors voting against this in February. Meanwhile, documents leaked to the FT show that the mayor wrote to the central government in January asking for the transfer of civic properties. A confidential council document from February showed that a listing had been “discussed and agreed” with the local authority. 
 
The leak comes a week after the government commissioned an independent investigation into Houchen’s Teesworks project in Redcar. Experts, as well as politicians and the media, have raised concerns over the secrecy and value for money of transferring public assets to developers. The government has promised an independent review of the South Tees deal. Houchen has established three Mayoral Development Corporations, aimed at speeding up local regeneration, one of which has privately transferred 90% of the former Redcar steel works to two local developers.

The Hartlepool MDC’s master plan, unveiled last week, seeks to “restore, reinvigorate and shape a sustainable town center” by creating 2,000 jobs and constructing up to 1,300 new homes. Houchen said that the Hartlepool plan would increase private investment in the town, but Labour accused the mayor and his colleagues of being “pathologically averse” to accountability. The list of assets to be transferred was eventually made public by the council after the FT investigated the information contained in the leaked documents. Buildings include Hartlepool Town Hall, Magistrates Court and the primary leisure center.

The overarching issue being raised with regards to Houchen’s approach to transferring assets to MDCs is that of secrecy and a lack of public consultation in what is a central government and taxpayer-funded initiative. Labour MP for Easington, Grahame Morris says: “We’re elected MPs representing those people, and those people have a right to know at the earliest opportunity what the intentions are and what the implications of those decisions could be.” 

Houchen’s vision is that the MDCs will drive investment and jobs to towns across the Tees Valley by using the powers of the local Enterprise Zones model, with the aim of creating a similar effect to the positive change seen at the outset of the London Docklands Development Corporation.

How can Teeside accelerate regeneration?

The MDCs will create new models of regeneration, by sharpening the area’s business offer, delivering more homes, greater transport connectivity, outstanding culture and leisure amenities, and key infrastructure requirements. This is all while supporting local people to raise their skills levels and supporting businesses to scale, and attracting new inward investment. In a post-COVID-19 world, Houchen and his advisors are finding ways to push ahead with growth and regeneration. Revealed in a recent report by The Times, key to these plans is improving skills, something which is seen as critical in developing the local economy given the pandemic has ramped up the importance of digital capabilities.

One of the practical outcomes of these regeneration models is finding the right locations to back programs that will drive significant growth in new investment and jobs. For example, supporting the automotive sector; the Chemicals and Processes Institute (CPI) at Wilton; the Sunderland Software City and the emerging cluster around NetPark in Sedgefield; as well as Ramco Industries’ project to convert the 300-acre former Teesworks steelworks in Redcar into one of the UK’s biggest logistics parks. 

The joint report from Tees Valley Combined Authority and Creative Destruction Labs suggests, launching a series of programmes focused on ramping up digital capability to attract and develop talent with a digital background. The report suggests there is a need to ‘increase the pace of transformation in the region by investing in significant fibre infrastructure’.

With £1bn of investment from the UK government announced in March, work on site at the Teesworks plant is underway, and projects such as the CO2 emission capture facility are already in progress. The MDCs’ main focus is to attract new investment to Teesside and Darlington and to develop commercial properties on land owned by the public sector. If regeneration is to happen here, it may have greater success by staying true to its goals, working with local people, and embracing transparency, rather than risking criticism for work done behind closed doors.

Summary:

Ben Houchen, the Conservative Party’s high-profile mayor of Tees Valley, has come under criticism for agreeing privately to take over civic buildings in Hartlepool in a process that has not been made public. If agreed by the government, these properties will be handed over to the new Hartlepool Mayoral Development Corporation. Besides Hartlepool, the Cleveland area has two other such bodies chaired by Houchen, all aimed at speeding up local regeneration. Creating investment and jobs in towns across the Tees Valley will be the key incentive for MDC’s to drive change in the region. To pull them off, models of regeneration must improve the area’s business offer and deliver more homes, better transport connectivity, outstanding culture and leisure amenities, and key infrastructure requirements. The lack of transparency and public consultation in the transfer of public assets to the MDCs is the primary issue raised by politicians, experts, and the media, who have also criticized the secrecy and value for money of some of the asset transfers. Along with better digital infrastructure and improvements in the skills of the local workforce, transparency and dialogue with the local population will be crucial in driving any public-private regeneration partnerships.

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The Conservative Party’s high-profile mayor, Ben Houchen, has again been accused of secrecy after plans for a third transfer of public assets to his region in north-east England were leaked to the Financial Times.

Houchen, mayor of Tees Valley, has privately struck a deal with Hartlepool council to take over key civic buildings in the community in a process that has not previously been public.

The leak comes a week after the government commissioned a independent investigation in Houchen’s Teesworks project in Redcar over concerns over the secret transfer of public assets to developers.

If agreed by the government, the Hartlepool properties – and the planning powers over them – will be handed over to the new Hartlepool Mayoral Development Corporation, a local regeneration body chaired by the mayor.

Houchen said the Hartlepool plan would boost private investment in the town, but Labor accused the mayor and his Conservative colleagues of being “pathologically averse” to accountability.

The list of assets to be transferred was made public by the council after the FT investigated the information contained in the leaked documents.

Buildings include Hartlepool Town Hall, Magistrates Court and the main leisure centre.

Hartlepool MDC is one of three such bodies chaired by Houchen in the Tees Valley, all aimed at speeding up local regeneration.

The first to be established, the South Tees Development Corporation, made a deal privately to transfer 90 per cent of the former Redcar steel works to two local developers.

The government has promised an independent review of the South Tees deal after questions from politicians, experts and the media about secrecy and value for money.

Houchen has also set up an MDC in Middlesbrough, which will take over assets from the council despite the councilors voting against move in February.

No list of assets to be transferred to MDC Hartlepool had so far been made public.

But documents leaked to the FT show the mayor wrote to the central government in January asking for the transfer of civic properties. A confidential council document from February showed that a listing had been “discussed and agreed” with the local authority.

After the FT asked Hartlepool council why the details had not been made public, chief executive Denise McGuckin sent councilors correspondence from the Department for Levelling, Housing and Communities dated 12 April, which included assets to be transferred.

The letter said that Houchen had indicated that the assets were “an integral part of the delivery of the development company’s master plan.”

It said Leveling Secretary Michael Gove believed the master plan would “help drive transformative change and level the areas of need identified in Hartlepool”.

Jonathan Brash, deputy leader of Hartlepool council’s Labor group, said his party had previously tried, but failed, to pass a motion to publish the list.

“This list of assets should never have been kept from the public and the fact that they are now being revealed after press pressure only adds to the feeling of a lack of transparency on this issue,” Brash said.

He accused local Conservatives of being “pathologically opposed to any sense of openness, transparency or accountability”.

Hartlepool MDC’s master plan, unveiled last week, says it aims to ‘restore, reinvigorate and shape a sustainable town centre’, creating 2,000 jobs and building up to 1,300 new homes.

The mayor did not respond to requests for comment. The Tees Valley Combined Authority, the group of five councils chaired by the Mayor, said the council “was the body responsible for governance procedures in relation to the publication of assets to be transferred to the MDC”.

https://www.ft.com/content/e0d60020-3016-4b41-8eb3-539bb3fbb5bc
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