Why a truly independent inquiry is needed into the Teesside Freeport project - Andy Brown

That is what is so hugely disappointing about the Teesside Freeport project. Almost everyone is in agreement that it is a good idea to try and clean up a former industrial area and put it to good use. Improving economic opportunity in a long neglected area is an excellent idea. Re-engineering a regional economy to help it adapt to a new era of technology is very welcome.

Almost no one should be content to meekly accept that the only way to achieve that is to waste public money and trash other parts of the local environment.

It is now starting to look very much as if that is what has been happening on Teesside and the whole thing has been very badly managed because of a rush to complete the project in time to gain tax breaks associated with Freeport status.

Normally when publicly owned property is sold off it is done so openly through a competitive tendering process to make sure the correct price is paid. Once the land for the new Teesside development had been cleaned up at cost to the taxpayer it was sold off in what looks to have been an unusually opaque manner.

One version of events is that land worth £100m was sold off to favoured developers for only £96.79 plus VAT. The Mayor of Teesside has told us this is not true and actually £15m was paid in complex deals. The public is entitled to know the truth about the price, to find out whether those deals were designed to avoid appropriately paying tax and to see clear evidence that due process was followed. We need to know that tenders were awarded properly and fairly.

Another accusation is that there is very valuable scrap metal on the Teesworks site and that around £50m of it has already been sold without the public getting anything like that value for its property. If true then that is a great deal of money that could have been put to very good use. The public needs to know who has benefited from the scrap sales, how the amount taxpayers received was determined and who is responsible for the decision making.

There are also huge questions about whether a site that used to be in public hands has ended up being largely controlled by two private investors without any meaningful investment actually being made by the new owners.

Issues like this need properly examining by experts who are seen to be genuinely independent. One of the most logical means of doing that would be to ask the National Audit Office to investigate what has happened.

Instead of doing that Michael Gove has announced that he will appoint some form of independent review to consider the specific allegations made and the Tees Valley Combined Authority’s oversight of the South Tees Development Corporation and the Teesside joint venture.

That is a rather strange way to proceed. Even stranger is the behaviour of the Government Minister for levelling up, Dehenna Davison. In May she was written to by the Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald to ask whether there were any concerns over the way the project had been managed.

She rushed to respond and told him she had “seen no evidence of corruption, wrongdoing, or illegality". That was an important assurance coming as it did from an Under Secretary of State who is responsible for the expenditure of a lot of public money.

Unfortunately it was then revealed that one of the shareholders of one of the companies who has played a central role in the joint venture projects for Teesworks had made a financial contribution of £2,500 to her campaign funds in 2019.

It is normal for Ministers who have had financial dealings with a private investor to take great care about using their public position to pass an opinion on any dealings involving that investor. A hasty rush to provide public assurances in advance of a full investigation without disclosing the existence of a connection with one of the interested parties may not have been the wisest way for a Minister to behave.

The public is entitled to expect a fair and careful examination of the issues before bland assurances are issued. Where there are concerns about potential waste of public money it is important that those issues are properly explored and rigorous conclusions are drawn. So it is now of real importance that the review goes way beyond lip service and is seen to be seen to be credibly independent. Those leading it must have the power to look at all the documentation that they wish to see and the conclusions they draw must be made without fear of political interference and published in full.

Andy Brown is the North Yorkshire Councillor for Aire Valley.