'Nobody's in charge of decisions' at Teesworks according to development corporation boss

The trial is in its fourth week, but is expected to either be extended or adjourned until a later date as the judge, Mr Justice Rajah, doesn’t expect to hear all evidence in the allotted time.

On the subject of the relationship between STDC and Teesworks Ltd - the company which is 90 per cent owned by private individuals, but was previously half-owned by the development corporation - Mrs Gilhespie was asked who makes the decisions.

“Nobody’s in charge of the decisions,” she replied, “it’s a partnership and we work together.”

Later on Chris Harrison - who personally owns an estimated 6% of Teesworks Ltd and has worked on behalf of STDC since early 2020 in a planning role - also gave evidence to the court. After barristers had concluded questioning him, Mr Harrison asked if he was able to add more.

Despite saying in his earlier evidence that property developers Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney, who collectively own the majority of Teesworks Ltd shares, are in control of the company “for practical purposes”, Mr Harrison asked to clarify: “It was put to me that with the change in direction to 10 per cent/90 per cent that we were the lead partner on this but we work on a collaborative basis with South Tees Development Corporation,” he said.

“We have regular discussions with Julie Gilhespie and the wider team at the Development Corporation so it isn’t just us driving things forward. It is very much a partnership arrangement.”

Among the more unexpected revelations from Monday’s evidence was the claim by Mrs Gilhespie that Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen had wanted to “re-nationalise” the docks at Teesport.

“Ben saw this as potentially an opportunity to bring the statutory harbour authority role into a non-commercial position,” she told the court.

TVCA had launched a bid to purchase PD Ports in the Summer of 2021 after the harbour company’s owners indicated it was interested in selling it, although the sale was withdrawn in November that year despite a number of bids being made.

PD Ports claimed at the time that the current litigation being heard in court was a ploy by the development corporation to drive its price down to be bought more cheaply, although STDC has denied this.

Asked in court if this was the case, Mrs Gilhespie said: “I think it was felt that, no other purchaser would buy the port, or PD Ports, without resolving the access issue and that that gave leverage into a potential deal.”

The trial is set to determine if historical rights of access for PD Ports across former steelworks land that was purchased by STDC as part of a compulsory purchase order in 2020 still exist.