Government says Ben Houchen 'does not have powers to build hospital'

Launching his re-election campaign earlier this week, Conservative Lord Houchen pledged to build a new general hospital to replace the University Hospital of North Tees if he secures a third term in office.

However, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has told The Yorkshire Post “the Mayor does not have the relevant powers to build a new hospital”.

Responding to The Yorkshire Post’s questions after his announcement about how he hoped to build the hospital, Lord Houchen said: “We have all the powers I need. We can procure the works, we can use devolved funds and we can borrow money to do it.

“In the same way, people said I didn't have any control over aviation, or the freeport or bringing the Treasury to Darlington - but we did it.”

Speaking at his campaign launch at Teesside Airport on Monday, Lord Houchen described the current North Tees general hospital as “not fit for purpose”, and that “hardworking and dedicated NHS staff are being let down by the buildings they have to operate in. Enough is enough.”

He continued: “I will not leave this issue to politicians in Westminster to fix for any longer. If elected, I will build a new hospital to replace North Tees.”

In 2010, the newly-elected government led by David Cameron cancelled plans for a new £464m hospital to be built to replace both North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals, only three months after the project was backed by the then-Labour Health Secretary, Andy Burnham.

Plans for the new hospital in 2010 would have seen it located at Wynyard Park on land owned by property developer Chris Musgrave, one of the joint venture partners at Teesworks - the enormous regeneration project at the former Redcar steelworks site.

At the time, local campaigners opposed the location for being too remote and poorly served by public transport.

Responding to questions on his Facebook page after making his pledge, Lord Houchen said he opposed building a new hospital at Wynyard Park.

A representative for Wynyard Park told The Yorkshire Post: “We no longer have land availability for a hospital and it's not something included within our master plan or development proposals for the estate.”

Asked if the current North Tees Hospital was “not fit for purpose”, a DHSC spokesperson said: “We fully recognise the need to invest in health infrastructure across the country and the New Hospital Programme, expected to be backed by £20 billion in government investment, remains committed to delivering 40 new hospitals by 2030.

“We have invested almost £43 million in North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in recent years to upgrade emergency departments, speed up access to diagnostic tests, and improve critical infrastructure.

“Going forward, new schemes will be considered through a rolling programme of capital investment in hospital infrastructure to upgrade NHS facilities across the country, with details to be agreed periodically to provide greater future certainty.”