The report into alleged corruption at Teesworks arrived and found no evidence of wrongdoing, not that there was ever a chance of doing so. Not with the remit and terms Michael Gove gave the investigators. I mean, if you are really looking for corruption you would surely have forensic auditors involved.
Lord Houchen and his cheerleaders claimed he was exonerated and ignored the meat of the report that actually is really damning.
Please, if you haven’t already, read the reports by Peter Morris and Ray Casey on this subject.
Let’s be quite honest here, if Houchen hadn’t expended an enormous amount of energy ensuring that nobody outside his inner circle had a clue what was going on, the investigation wouldn’t have been needed.
Houchen and his cronies need to look closer to home for someone to blame for the bad press.
Teesworks is the only freeport that has had any issues around scrutiny and allegations of wrongdoing…read into that what you will.
I would suggest that under normal circumstances heads would roll, however these are not normal times.
PD Ports
Then on 5 Feb came the High Court judgement on the case that Houchen had brought against PD Ports regarding access.
Please reacquaint yourself with Julia Mazza’s take on this.
Surprise, surprise, Houchen lost and as a result the taxpayer is going to be on the hook for a significant amount of money…may be seven figures.
The reality for ordinary people
I’m unsure how many hundreds of millions of pounds has been spent by TVCA and STDC under the (mis?)management by Houchen, but what I can say is that the ordinary person on the street has seen zero improvement in their lives.
Poverty in the Tees Valley is outrageous and shameful. Local services are shockingly bad.
Fortunately, we have a lovely shiny airport that gets used about four times a day. That’s got to be a comfort…no?
The mayoral election is coming round shortly and it will be interesting, or possibly terrifying, to see how Tees Valley votes.
We have had two terms of petty politics, secrecy, lack of scrutiny and someone who loves the sound of his own voice. A mayor who either doesn’t care about wasting taxpayers’ money, or is too incompetent to ensure value for money.
I am calling a landslide victory for Houchen, unless of course our local journalists, both TV and written, start asking the searching questions that will expose him as out of his depth.
I firmly believe we need a change, we need to get some accountability from the Tees Valley Mayor, and as evidenced by the Teesworks report we won’t get it with Houchen.
We need value for our money, and Houchen has shown a disgraceful attitude to our money.
We deserve better than this…or do we?
