Transparency needed over funding of Teesside Freeport - The Yorkshire Post says

The fact that Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen is facing questions over who is going to provide £92m for a redevelopment that is part of the Teesside Freeport, will leave people more concerned than excited about the economic opportunities ahead.

Mr Houchen sits on the board of the publicly-run South Tees Development Corporation (STDC), which has stated £207m is due to be spent on the Teesworks site in 2022/23 and £92.7m will come from an “other” source.

As Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, says: “If people are confident of their investment they should be out there talking about it.”

The redevelopment project has been endorsed by the Prime Minister as a shining example of levelling up in action but the lack of transparency only serves to undermine confidence in the freeport.

Around £41.1m will be provided by the Government and £73.7m will come from a UK Infrastructure Bank loan with £92m coming from this other source. The fact that public money is attached to this development, makes the need for full transparency all that more important.

The freeport has already been mired in controversy. A group of scientists had claimed that a mass die-off of marine life was down to dredging of the River Tees as part of the freeport project. Although a panel of Government-appointed experts completed a review and found that an unknown disease or parasite is the “most likely” cause

Some Tories have accused this newspaper of not wanting Teesside to succeed economically, by simply looking into the health of marine life. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

The people of Teesside deserve answers to questions.