Learn to Dredge

In 2016, Lord Heseltine spent several months in the Tees Valley area, producing an extensive 91 page report titled ‘Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited’. He concluded, despite the fact that “Four miles of the south bank of the Tees is a scene of desolation, a memory of industrial activity now gone...” that the “Tees Valley has an exciting future.”

A decade on from this report, how are things looking for the region?

In 2024 Lord Houchen was voted in as Mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority for the third time in a row, with an impressive 54% of the turnout. There have been many things said about Lord Houchen. Some say he could be the future leader of the Conservatives – the man to get them out of the self-excavated cavern they find themselves in. Some say things about Lord Houchen that cannot be repeated.

What Lord Houchen knew about the area was that the survival of the local airport was, and remains, essential. Teesside International Airport in the eyes and minds of generations of local residents is what connects us to the world. It is RAF Middleton St George, it is the landing strip of presidents, it is our portal to long weekends in Amsterdam, or connecting flights to further afield. It is also our ticket to Alicante for €3 tapas dishes and the unmatched hospitality of the Spanish people (FYI – they now do a flight to Malaga). 

His emphasis on keeping this airport alive is simply correct and is not deserving of praise. It is the idiocy of successive Labour candidates not making this the mantle of their campaigns that deserves the real attention. If you were to walk along Stockton High Street, Middlesbrough Town Centre, or Darlington High Row and find any of Lord Houchen’s well meaning supporters and ask them why they voted for him, they will tell you that “he saved the airport”.

Despite his success in this air field and him holding a strong base of support in the area, the idea of him returning for a fourth term when the next election comes around should be a non-starter. This is because Lord Houchen is a man drowning in controversy, he does not have the interests of his supporters or the local people anywhere close to his heart, and I hope that one day he will face the consequences of his actions.

Tommy Williams and John Mackay died in 2019, after improper safety precautions were taken in the demolition of the ammonia washer towers on the South Bank. The families of the victims are yet to see any compensation or criminal convictions. Lord Houchen’s response? A callous refusal to meet family members of the victims. 

Lord Houchen’s approach to Teesworks appears as though he actively operates against the interest of the local population. Over £560 million of public funds have been used for the remediation works needed on the site. One would think after extensive remediation of publicly owned land, that to entice enterprise to the area, there would be an auctioning off of the land. Maybe the proceeds of which could have gone to local developments, community projects, struggling councils etc.

Sadly not. Two local property developers Corney and Musgrave, were granted the permission, by Lord Houchen, for no discernible reason to buy land in the area for a pound an acre, that’s right, a pound an acre. Of course they were selective with their purchases, only buying the land after public money had been piled into it. Over several years, these two men and their families have profited over £100 million without putting a single penny of their own money into the project. Talk about skin in the game; Mr Musgrave is now based in Dubai, I wonder why…

In 2021, there was a massive wash up of countless dead marine life all along the north-east coastline. Conservatives of the time, Lord Houchen, Sir Simon Clarke and Baroness Therese Coffey, came out and said that this was nothing to do with the dredging of the River Tees. What luxury it is, to speak with such false conviction at no personal cost. In 2026, fishing communities up and down the coast still bear the cost of this incident, they have been decimated with no support from the people who are supposed to represent them.

Now there are talks of a great big AI Data Centre being built on the banks of the Tees, some might say that to be against this is to be against the future of the Tees Valley. Forgive me for not being convinced. Decades of continued neglect of my local area leads me to believe that the winners of this are not the people who live, breathe, laugh, love and die there. Instead, it will be the tax-avoiding international corporations and conniving rats hellbent on creaming off the land owned by us all.

So long as things remain the same and the impotence of government maintains the status quo of ‘no real questions asked’, areas like The Tees Valley will continue to be taken advantage of by parasitic private interest, which for far too long, has carved the marrow out of the bones of this country.

Image: Flickr/ CCHQ (Edward Massey)

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