Teesport operator to build energy hub to rival neighbouring Teesworks
Plus: TVCA has highest rate of FOI complaints in the country + Reform win only Tees Valley election in landslide
Hello, it’s issue 49 of The Teesside Lead, and I’m back after a wild week where my own illness paled into insignificance when my partner had to have emergency surgery last weekend.
Everybody is on the mend, and I’m glad to be back writing this newsletter!
If you want to support The Teesside Lead the easiest (and cheapest) way to do it is by signing up to the mailing list. It’s free to follow. Each week there’s some premium content for subscribers - this week an exclusive investigation into how many FOIs Tees Valley Combined Authority gets (and the number of complaints about the data it releases).
Meanwhile, I’ll start this newsletter by asking you to cast your minds back to last year, when the High Court settled the matter of access rights at Teesworks by declaring PD Ports the victor in the case brought against it by Ben Houchen’s South Tees Development Corporation and Teesworks Ltd.
Teesworks Ltd recently dropped their appeal against that decision, and now PD Ports are looking to go into direct competition with them.
Teesport operator PD Ports have announced plans for a deep-water quay and green energy hub, in direct competition with neighbours Teesworks Ltd.
Plans to redevelop 180 acres of unused land on the Teesport estate will see a 1km-long quayside built as well as what PD Ports says will offer “a range of offshore manufacturers, assembly, marshalling and supply chain support services” for the green energy industry.
Its plans rival neighbouring Teesworks’ South Bank Quay which started operating last Autumn after more than £100m of public money was spent on it. South Bank Quay will serve SeAH Wind’s enormous monopile factory which is expected to start fulfilling orders imminently.
PD Ports’ offering, while offering a similar length and depth for mooring, is roughly a mile closer to the North Sea.
The announcement comes just over a year after a High Court judge declared PD Ports was “clearly the successful party” in a legal case over access rights brought against them by the public South Tees Development Corporation. Teesworks Ltd was added as a third party to the litigation after it bought the freehold to the land on which the SeAH factory now sits, as well as that of South Bank Quay.
Conservative mayor Ben Houchen revealed earlier this year that Teesworks had dropped its appeal to the High Court.
Judge Mr Justice Rajah ordered at least 80% of PD Ports’ costs to be paid by STDC and Teesworks. Bringing the legal action is expected to have cost the public purse around £5m.
PD Ports’ plans for what it calls the Teesport Offshore Gateway could be interpreted as a shot at Teesworks Ltd, by making a similar offer of deep-water berths for offshore energy projects. It puts the neighbours in direct competition with each other.
The company expects development of the project to cost around £200m, and says it will “secure critical port facilities in support of the Government’s offshore wind development ambitions.”
Frans Calje, chief executive officer of PD Ports, said: “One of Teesside’s great strengths is its ability to reinvent itself in the face of change.
“As the UK and the wider world turns its attention to large-scale renewable energy sources, here at PD Ports we see the opportunity – and the responsibility - to play our part by offering an offshore wind development site that is perfectly positioned to unlock the capability of our region, not only as a hub for trade and industry, b ut also to deliver the clean energy revolution.
“Teesport and the River Tees has everything required to successfully operate what we believe will be one of the largest offshore wind manufacturing and assembly hubs on the east coast of the UK, offering unrivalled access to the North Sea.
Teesside stories you may have missed…
💣 A grenade is thought to have been found in a Darlington shed
🚲 Yarm is the new Linthorpe Road cycle lane
🏠 Brand new council houses have been damaged after a JCB was driven into them
🙄 Ben Houchen uses ableist language and nobody bats an eyelid
Reform UK win only Tees Valley election
Reform UK won the only seat up for grabs in the Tees Valley region in last week’s local elections.
Hartlepool elects its councillors in thirds, and this year was supposed to be a year without local elections until Labour councillor Cameron Sharp announced his intention to stand down in March.
Amanda Napper of Reform UK won 889 votes, compared to second place Lyndsey Allen of Labour who received 486.
Veronica Nicholson of the Conservatives won 151 votes. Turnout was 25.53%.
After her victory, Napper said: “When you see the state of Throston ward it makes you realise how much hard work it needs to pull it into shape, so I'm fully eyes wide open to the amount of work needed.”
Napper was the party’s candidate at last year’s general election, where she came second. The right wing vote was evenly split, allowing Labour’s Jonathan Brash to comfortably win the seat with a majority of 7,698.
Extraordinary meetings for TVCA and STDC called
Extraordinary meetings have been pencilled in for TVCA’s cabinet and the South Tees Development Corporation Board on 14 May.
No times or locations have yet been announced.
TVCA did not respond to a request for information.
TVCA has highest rate of unsatisfied FOI responses in England
The Teesside Lead can reveal that Tees Valley Combined Authority has the highest number of freedom of information requests sent to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) out of all 11 of England’s combined authorities.
After submitting FOIs to all combined authorities to reveal stats on data disclosure for the entirety of 2024, TVCA had a total of 9 cases referred to the data watchdog compared to Greater Manchester which had zero, despite receiving nearly three-times as many FOIs.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Teesside Lead to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.