TVCA rejects Scrutiny Committee request to assess Ben Houchen appointments
Previous Constitution was "unlawful"
It’s a mid-week edition of The Teesside Lead since I have some breaking news to follow up on the last edition with. This is number 60 to anyone keeping count.
Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) has rejected calls from councillors on its Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee to call-in decisions made by mayor Ben Houchen to appoint his own successors at the region’s three mayoral development corporations (MDCs).
In the last edition of The Teesside Lead, I reported that seven Labour councillors had questioned the appointments on the grounds that they did not comply with TVCA’s constitution.
They had also objected to changes to the constitution being made without a formal vote by the Cabinet, as members were only asked to “note” the proposed changes.
Ben Houchen stood down as chair of the South Tees Development Corporation, Middlesbrough Development Corporation and Hartlepool Corporation last month after new Government guidance was published which said any mayor holding those posts represented a potential conflict of interests.
TVCA has now written its response to the councillors and says its reasons for calling in the decisions are “invalid”.
The basis for TVCA’s rejection of the call-in request from the O&S Committee is that the old Constitution “did not properly reflect the underlying legislative framework,” and that taking “decisions in accordance with what was erroneously stated in the constitution would have been unlawful.”
That is to say, the Constitution - the rulebook by which all decisions at TVCA have to be made - did not conform to the law, and any decision made under its provisions could now potentially be subject to legal challenges.
On the subject of Ben Houchen selecting his own successors as chairs of the MDCs, the response argues the legislation which devolves the power to combined authorities states the power is one “which is exercisable only by the Mayor”. The previous Constitution says the mayor can nominate a chair for MDCs only for approval from the combined authority’s Cabinet.
TVCA’s response says: “To have followed what was erroneously stated in the constitution would have resulted in an unlawful decision.”
Interestingly, the decision was signed off by Hugh Grime who is Deputy Monitoring Officer, rather than Emma Simson who is the top legal officer in the combined authority. I’ve asked TVCA why this decision was delegated and not taken by the more senior officer.
The rejection rather dismissively responds to a claim that Ben Houchen’s ability to appoint his own successors “impacts on local accountability”, by saying: “Whether this impacts upon local accountability is a matter to be raised with the Government - the Authority is required to act in accordance with the legislative framework as presently set out.”
That was true when the Constitution was previously written, too.
Thanks as always for reading.
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I’ll be back on Sunday for another edition.
Get in touch at teesside@thelead.uk or via Bluesky.
Enjoy your week,
Leigh