What's behind Ben Houchen's £12.5m airport claim?
Plus: Northern rail makes £500,000 through "unlawful" court action
It’s the equinox this week, and the sun has been shining. We are truly on our way to summer as I click “SEND” on this, the 41st edition of The Teesside Lead.
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A relatively short mid-week edition, but you get what you pay for!
“£12.5m BOOST FOR BUSINESS AT OUR AIRPORT” - so ran the text emblazoned across an image of an aeroplane in a hanger on Ben Houchen’s social media this week.
A done deal. Pats on the back. Trebles all round.
It’s never that straightforward, though, is it?
Despite the tone of certainty to this proclamation, the missing asterisk from the claim would have clarified the £12.5m “boost” would be coming from the public sector’s coffers. And that’s only after the approval of Tees Valley Combined Authority’s Cabinet at their meeting a week on Friday.
No problem, let’s just take a look at the agenda and papers for the meeting on TVCA’s website… Ah… They’re not there. I’m told they’ll be released tomorrow. Plenty of time ahead of the meeting, but still after Houchen played this hand.
What Ben Houchen has done here is what he’s really good at: Politics.
He’s also a really effective and canny communicator. You don’t need to worry about the detail, people will see he’s said there’s £12.5m for the airport and if Labour vote it down you can call them blockers and let them take the heat.
Despite the fact Ben Houchen is the only Conservative on TVCA’s Cabinet, surrounded by five Labour politicians, he retains the upper hand in so many ways. As Chair of the Cabinet and political figurehead of TVCA he essentially has oversight of the meeting’s agenda and can put out messages like these to catch his opponents flat-footed.
The five Labour leaders aren’t really a very cohesive cohort either. They’ve got their own councils to run, their own local parties to keep in order. TVCA is an extracurricular activity for them if we’re being honest, one which Ben Houchen has the luxury of being able to spend every hour of every working day a part of.
That £12.5m “investment” is also a similar amount to the £12.7m I reported in the previous edition of The Teesside Lead as the total amount of public money TVCA paid to the airport in 2024.
So what does this £12.5m get? According to TVCA it will lead to the creation of 250 jobs and “unlock” a further £16m of private investment. That’s all dependent on other things, too. “Agreements are being progressed,” says TVCA, “with three key airport tenants to each expand their operations”.
So the £12.5m isn’t a done deal, and neither is the £16m.
Could the announcement be an attempt to capture the attention of the aviation industry trade press? Last week Newcastle Airport (itself majority-owned by the public) announced plans for a new cargo hub. Despite the fact Teesside managed to draw FedEx’s North East operations away from the Tyneside airport, Newcastle still handles around eight-times as much cargo.
Newcastle’s announcement came at the MIPIM conference in Cannes last week, a global real estate trade show. Although TVCA hired a stand, they had no announcements to make, and no speakers on any panels.
For comparison, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham used the conference as the location to announce plans for the new Old Trafford Stadium.
Still, I’m sure the south of France is lovely whatever time of year.
Teesside stories you may have missed…
⛴️ Smiths dry docks on the South bank of the Tees are being brought back into use
🌊 A Hartlepool lifeboat volunteer is retiring after 40 years’ service
🕌 Middlesbrough Iftar with non-Muslims to commemorate town’s response to riots
Northern rail makes £570,000 out of wrongful prosecutions
An exclusive investigation by The Lead’s national title has discovered rail operator Northern has made nearly £570,000 through “unlawful” prosecutions of fare evaders.
Click below to read more…
A short and sweet mid-week edition. I’ll be back again on Sunday.
Thanks as always for reading. Get in touch at teesside@thelead.uk or via Bluesky.
Leigh