Leigh Jones: Why The Yorkshire Post getting to the truth on Teesside means so much to me

The Yorkshire Post’s stunning front page showed the shocking scene with the headline “Carpet of Death”.

It wasn’t the first time huge numbers of dead animals had washed up on this stretch of coastline in recent memory, but the Post’s coverage caused local politicians to immediately go on the defensive. Simon Clarke MP accused the paper of “deeply irresponsible journalism”. The local authority’s mayor, Ben Houchen, called the reporting “guff”.

From September 2021 a number of shellfish, mainly crabs and lobsters, began washing up dead on the North East’s beaches, with the largest numbers concentrated on the stretch immediately south of the river Tees.

Local fishers and environmentalists believed that activity on the shore of the south bank of the Tees may have been responsible for the deaths. As part of the development of the UK Government’s flagship freeport on Teesside - a cornerstone of the country’s post-Brexit economy - a new port was to be built as part of the redevelopment of an enormous 4,500 acre site that was home to the former steelworks which shut in 2015.

This land has been home to heavy polluting industries for a century and a half. There’s a reason people from Middlesbrough are known as Smoggies. Locals were concerned that disturbing the river’s sediment may have disturbed historic reservoirs of pyridine - a toxic byproduct of the steel industry - into the area’s ecosystem.

An analysis of available evidence by an independent panel of experts was released in January of this year. It ruled out pyridine, but proposed a theory of a new disease being the cause of the mass deaths.

No further research has been undertaken by the government, no support to the fishermen whose livelihoods are shattered, and as far as they’re concerned it’s case closed.

The fate of Teesside’s freeport should be important to anybody living in the North of England. If the government’s “levelling up” agenda means anything, and if they’re serious about addressing regional inequality anywhere, the success of the freeport should be their priority. If they fail to deliver on their flagship project, how can they be expected to deliver elsewhere?

Operations on freeport land, which also includes Teesside airport down the road, are run by a private company called Teesworks Ltd. The company was set up in March 2020 as a joint venture between the Tees Valley Combined Authority and local businessmen. It emerged eighteen months later that the original 50/50 split had been re-allocated with the businessmen taking a 90% share of the business.

It has never been explained why those publicly-owned shares were given away, or even if they were paid for. TVCA cites “commercial sensitivity” as the reason for the secrecy.

In September 2019, two workers were killed on site after an explosion. The investigation into their deaths by Cleveland Police - which is in special measures after a number of Chief Constables have stood down amidst controversy and misconduct - is still ongoing after three and a half years.

There are so many unanswered questions on Teesside. Hundreds of books will eventually be written about what’s happening here, the challenge is to hold those who are responsible to account before they ride off into the sunset at the expense of an area that deserves answers.