Private Eye delivers the beginner's guide to Houchens Teesworks:

This podcast and the more in-depth analysis by Tees Valley Monitor lifts the lid on the cess pool that Houtchen, Preston and their cronies swim in, all at the public expense. The sort of behaviour that in prior times would have likely had consequences for the perpetrators but has now been enabled and normalised by the corrupt government at Westminster.
 
You know what, I’m quite torn by all this.

My values are all based around honesty and fairness and so can see the conflicts that might be taking place in all of these business deals & potential cost to the tax payer.

On the other hand if we didn’t get this investment from government then what else would we do with the land? I see the amounts spent on cross rail, HS2 & all sorts elsewhere in the country with in all probability the same types of deals going on and I think well if we don’t take it then it’ll just go elsewhere again and end up in a different private companies pocket. Public money always ends up in private pockets. I can’t help but think we need to stop being so naive.

Don’t we all want a better place for our children to live in? Does it really matter who owns it so long as it happens? It was private to begin with! Injection of public money, and now back to private.

I don’t know. I’m no business man or lawyer, just a pleb who wants my kids to be less of a pleb.
 
You know what, I’m quite torn by all this.

My values are all based around honesty and fairness and so can see the conflicts that might be taking place in all of these business deals & potential cost to the tax payer.

On the other hand if we didn’t get this investment from government then what else would we do with the land? I see the amounts spent on cross rail, HS2 & all sorts elsewhere in the country with in all probability the same types of deals going on and I think well if we don’t take it then it’ll just go elsewhere again and end up in a different private companies pocket. Public money always ends up in private pockets. I can’t help but think we need to stop being so naive.

Don’t we all want a better place for our children to live in? Does it really matter who owns it so long as it happens? It was private to begin with! Injection of public money, and now back to private.

I don’t know. I’m no business man or lawyer, just a pleb who wants my kids to be less of a pleb.
The money isn't being used to make your kids' lives better.

It is being used to financially benefit a relatively small number of people at public cost.

Sure, they may make some improvements but they won't be done at the expense of this group of people involved.
 
Corruption in clear sight - I hope someone in power and with a voice can take this up as a crusade against the rotten borough this has become under Bent Houchen and his acolytes.
 
You know what, I’m quite torn by all this.

My values are all based around honesty and fairness and so can see the conflicts that might be taking place in all of these business deals & potential cost to the tax payer.

On the other hand if we didn’t get this investment from government then what else would we do with the land? I see the amounts spent on cross rail, HS2 & all sorts elsewhere in the country with in all probability the same types of deals going on and I think well if we don’t take it then it’ll just go elsewhere again and end up in a different private companies pocket. Public money always ends up in private pockets. I can’t help but think we need to stop being so naive.

Don’t we all want a better place for our children to live in? Does it really matter who owns it so long as it happens? It was private to begin with! Injection of public money, and now back to private.

I don’t know. I’m no business man or lawyer, just a pleb who wants my kids to be less of a pleb.
If the cash is available then they should just give us it. There is zero need to set up opaque quangos just so their mates can control what ever crumbs they chuck at us.
 
You know what, I’m quite torn by all this.

My values are all based around honesty and fairness and so can see the conflicts that might be taking place in all of these business deals & potential cost to the tax payer.

On the other hand if we didn’t get this investment from government then what else would we do with the land? I see the amounts spent on cross rail, HS2 & all sorts elsewhere in the country with in all probability the same types of deals going on and I think well if we don’t take it then it’ll just go elsewhere again and end up in a different private companies pocket. Public money always ends up in private pockets. I can’t help but think we need to stop being so naive.

Don’t we all want a better place for our children to live in? Does it really matter who owns it so long as it happens? It was private to begin with! Injection of public money, and now back to private.

I don’t know. I’m no business man or lawyer, just a pleb who wants my kids to be less of a pleb.
Two quick questions

Where's is the Stockton development fund
Where is the Darlington development fund

Which assets have they taken from Stockton & Darlington councils?

To save time; there isn't one, because it isn't needed. There are big assets that the council has paid for. Which will just transfer to this new firm, how houchen can state that Preston should allowed a vote and the officer was wrong when it transpires he owns 8 properties in that area defies belief
 
This read as the MDC is a thing. Is it? I thought they went on their crying mission to Gove for a PR stunt. So has it actually been approved?
The Tees Valley Mayor has claimed a council’s actions have been an “absolute shambles” during the creation of a new development body.

Tory mayor Ben Houchen took a swipe at Middlesbrough Council at the latest South Tees Development Corporation board meeting. Tensions have flared over the last month due to a controversial new body that has been set up to redevelop Middlesbrough’s town centre and Middlehaven.

For its supporters, the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) provides an opportunity to turbocharge regeneration but for its critics, it’s a needless body that’s conducting a “smash and grab” of £14.7m worth of council assets.

A crunch meeting on Friday, February 24, was arranged and councillors were asked to vote on whether to back a consultation response that supported the creation of the new body, which included the transfer of assets. Labour dubbed the organisation of the meeting a shambles, after it was scheduled for Wednesday, February 22, cancelled and then rearranged for two days later.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove believes the proposition put to councillors was misleading because the order establishing the development corporation had been laid before Parliament three weeks prior. Ultimately, the bid for a supportive consultation response was voted down, with 16 councillors (all Labour) voting against the plans and 12 voting in favour.

This threw the proposals into a short-lived state of uncertainty, but by February 28, the government confirmed the MDC had been created as a legal entity and the scheme would go ahead. Middlesbrough Labour MP Andy McDonald called it a “scandalous denial of democracy”.

Councillors are not able to veto the proposals so the vote was not binding on the government. The first MDC board meeting is set to take place on Wednesday.

As part of the MDC process, the local authority will be consulted by Mr Gove over the asset transfer, which is expected to happen in the coming weeks.

Mr Houchen said: “The asset transfer consultation response hasn’t even started yet so Middlesbrough [Council] has decided to reject a consultation response, to a consultation that hasn’t started and we don’t have the detail of. This is the nonsense of Middlesbrough Council. All of this just proves to me why we need the development corporation, it’s an absolute farce from start to finish.”

A council spokesperson said its officers worked closely with the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) to prepare the report for the meeting relating to the MDC.

Conservative deputy mayor Cllr Mieka Smiles was unable to participate at the February meeting because she turned up late after she was stuck in traffic while driving back from a television appearance in Newcastle, which is understood to have been a long-standing prior commitment. Independent Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston did not show up at all after he was advised he had a conflict of interest due to a building he owns on Albert Road.

Mr Houchen, who stated he was speaking in a personal capacity and did not represent the view of the TVCA, does not believe that Cllr Smiles or Mr Preston should have been stopped from voting. He added: “I firmly believe the officers at Middlesbrough Council gave false advice.”

The mayor believes the council’s monitoring officer Charlotte Benjamin should have told the meeting why Cllr Smiles and Mr Preston were not allowed to vote.

He went on to say: “The process that Middlesbrough Council has gone through has been diabolical. They have been giving duff advice and the process and restrictions on Mieka and Andy were wrong…Everything from start to finish was an absolute shambles.

“The councillors are terrible, a lot of them are not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, there’s a lot of undue influence on officers, but a big part of it is an issue with officers at Middlesbrough as well. It’s a fundamentally broken council and I think there is a real risk the government step in at some point because it’s not getting better.”

In response, a council spokesperson said: “Middlesbrough Council officers worked incredibly closely with those of Tees Valley Combined Authority on preparing the report relating to the Middlesbrough Development Corporation proposal. The meeting which took place on February 24 was originally scheduled for February 22, but unfortunately, important details of the report were not finalised in time for it to be published with the advance notice required.”

In January, Middlesbrough Council received a Best Value Notice, which is a notification that informs councils they are not meeting expectations. It will be in place for 12 months and improvements are expected at a significant pace.

The letter addressed to the council’s outgoing chief executive Tony Parkinson has stated ministers in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have concerns about the local authority. It added that Mr Gove will consider powers to inspect or intervene in the council if there is a failure to improve.

This came after an explosive report in July 2022 by financial firm EY’s auditors which revealed a pervasive lack of trust between councillors and amongst staff and politicians. Mr Parkinson has since said his staff have been coerced, bullied and intimidated by politicians.
 
The money isn't being used to make your kids' lives better.

It is being used to financially benefit a relatively small number of people at public cost.

Sure, they may make some improvements but they won't be done at the expense of this group of people involved.
If the SSI site is improved (which it is) and there are work opportunities then it is potentially making things better for the youth.

I don’t think any private group would have done what was required using purely private money. It would have been a money pit without a return for decades & extremely high risk.
 
Two quick questions

Where's is the Stockton development fund
Where is the Darlington development fund

Which assets have they taken from Stockton & Darlington councils?

To save time; there isn't one, because it isn't needed. There are big assets that the council has paid for. Which will just transfer to this new firm, how houchen can state that Preston should allowed a vote and the officer was wrong when it transpires he owns 8 properties in that area defies belief
I honestly don’t know what Stockton and Darlington have done of merit to compare to Middlesbrough fairly. Middlesbrough required some pretty drastic action though and let’s not pretend Stockton & Darlo are like Chelsea & Kensington.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and I bet some of their deals were nudged towards company’s they trust to do the work (aka pals/cronies to the suspicious type).

I dunno, not much of what has come out is much of a surprise to me to warrant the reaction. Maybes I need to do some more reading.
 
If the SSI site is improved (which it is) and there are work opportunities then it is potentially making things better for the youth.

I don’t think any private group would have done what was required using purely private money. It would have been a money pit without a return for decades & extremely high risk.

It's not about public or private enterprises doing what is required, both could do it brilliantly or both fail. What is relevant is scrutiny and accountability, which is what is being denied here.

A ridiculous amount of public money is being given to and controlled by, people who answer to what/who?

They could build a mini Dubai, it would make little difference to the area if all those profits go to a handful of private "businessmen".
 
Why isn't the local press highlighting this corruption?
I think it's up to the likes of us to spread the word.
Share the articles and podcasts on social media , urge friends to do the same
Spread the word, hopefully it will lead to a proper investigation
 
I honestly don’t know what Stockton and Darlington have done of merit to compare to Middlesbrough fairly. Middlesbrough required some pretty drastic action though and let’s not pretend Stockton & Darlo are like Chelsea & Kensington.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and I bet some of their deals were nudged towards company’s they trust to do the work (aka pals/cronies to the suspicious type).

I dunno, not much of what has come out is much of a surprise to me to warrant the reaction. Maybes I need to do some more reading.
Stockton has built a hotel, renovated a theatre and in the middle of a massive project to demolish huge swathes of the high street including multi story car park, night club, post office, a part of the high street and a good sized shopping centre to open it up to the river and relocated part of the town centre.

Not sure how you can't call that drastic action, nor how transferring millions of pounds of council assets to a corporation outside of council control or scrutiny wouldn't warrant a reaction?!

Why do they need an MDC? Why wouldn't those assets revert to the council? This is the airport and free port all over again, plenty of people will profit but it won't be the taxpayers.
 
See Preston is getting a proper 'outing' in FT and Private Eye now.
Who'd have thought it? (apart from everyone) that a new 'Development Coporation' would be as crooked and incompetent as the ones that preceded it.

Local journos must be in on the gravy train for them to offer no press scrutiny of these shenanigans.
 
I honestly don’t know what Stockton and Darlington have done of merit to compare to Middlesbrough fairly. Middlesbrough required some pretty drastic action though and let’s not pretend Stockton & Darlo are like Chelsea & Kensington.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and I bet some of their deals were nudged towards company’s they trust to do the work (aka pals/cronies to the suspicious type).

I dunno, not much of what has come out is much of a surprise to me to warrant the reaction. Maybes I need to do some more reading.
If you genuinely think that it’s ok to direct business towards friends and associates at preferential rates, while avoiding scrutiny and locking out other local businesses, then you’re not tacitly accepting that corruption happens.

You’re actively supporting it.
 
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