Value and values
The Tees Valley Combined Authority has been served with a Government notice citing concerns over governance and value for money for taxpayers.
The ‘best value’ notice will be in place for a year. The TVCA will have to regularly engage with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and set out a clear strategy for improvement.
The FT reported yesterday that many of the Government criticisms centred on Teesworks and "the decision to hand two private developers 90% of the site’s development vehicle at zero consideration, alongside no investment obligations and the option to buy up land at short notice".
An independent review found no evidence of corruption in the way the former Redcar steelworks site was run but did reveal serious governance failings.
Before the election, Labour said it would send in the National Audit Office (NAO) to investigate the running of Teesworks. This latest move would appear to be a middle-ground option.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said in a statement he'd been told the NAO would no longer be investigating: “I’ve always said I’ll put politics to one side and work constructively with the Government and the Prime Minister to secure jobs, investment and opportunity for our region. That remains my complete and only focus.”
Fortune favours the brave
“Your mayor needs your ideas and your support to be brave,” said regional economics expert Dr Nicola Headlam at last week’s launch of the Society Matters Foundation.
Mayor Kim McGuinness, one of several high-profile speakers at the event, used the occasion to encourage people to take part in the recently launched Local Growth Plan consultation which will guide the North East Combined Authority’s approach for the next 10 years.
Dr Headlam, a former Head of the Northern Powerhouse, has now written her reflections on the foundation launch and said: “Even the best-intentioned local growth plan will do bu**er all unless we create the space for brave local leadership and collaborative partnerships with those anchored around people and place.
“Kim McGuinness and her counterparts need something more valuable than just our passive support – they need our active engagement to make them brave in the rooms that matter.”
As she said at the event: “Don’t ask what Kim can do for you, but what you can do for Kim.”
Favourite - but shocking - ‘did you know?’ stat from Dr Headlam: “We’ve allowed a system to develop where 4,600 houses in Notting Hill accumulated as much in capital gains between 2012 and 2019 as the core cities of Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester combined.”
More down the line
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander joined North East mayor Kim McGuinness at the Hitachi factory in Newton Aycliffe yesterday to announce that the plant’s 700 workers will be building a fleet of nine hybrid trains for Grand Central, in a deal worth £300m.
The ‘tri-mode’ battery carriages, which can be powered using electricity, battery or diesel, is a new advanced manufacturing opportunity for the factory, said Jim Brewin, Chief Director UK & Ireland at Hitachi Rail.
"This is a new train procurement, and it brings batteries into new trains. But we also have 300 diesel trains running across the country and a lot of them could use this new battery technology.
"So, the criticality of this in the long term is not just for new orders but to actually work backwards and retrofit the battery technology to other trains.”
Ms Alexander said: "This isn’t just about securing jobs here locally in Newton Aycliffe. It is also helping bring the railways into the 21st century. Hitachi is really helping drive forward innovation in the rail sector.”
Just the start
The redevelopment of the House of Fraser and Marks & Spencer buildings in Middlesbrough and the expansion of Northern Studios in Hartlepool are part of an initial £80 million investment to help the Tees Valley become a global leader in digital and creative industries.
The funding, part of a £160 million Government initiative to create the Tees Valley Investment Zone, will create 2000 skilled jobs and drive forward the development of digital and creative sectors in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.
In new hands
Newcastle City Council is now the official owner of the four-star Crowne Plaza hotel near Central Station and its 135 staff have transferred across from previous owner, the Clouston Group, which owed the council £39.5m.
It is expected that the council will seek to hold the ownership of the award-winning hotel for 10 to 15 years before selling it on.
Mark Nicholson, the council’s chief finance officer, said: “The parties have worked together to try to reach a solvent solution for Stephenson Hotel Limited, however, the level of debt involved was too high for this to be possible.”
The owner of the hotel is now Crossco (1467) Limited, a company owned by the council and which has council director of investment and growth Michelle Percy as its sole director. Ms Percy was previously managing director of Stephenson Hotel Limited and a director of the Clouston Group before she joined the council in 2016.
A quick word
The Banks Group are the new principal partner of Durham County Cricket Club. The deal means the ground at Chester-le-Street is renamed the Banks Homes Riverside Stadium and sees Banks’ branding feature on Durham’s men’s, women’s and junior teams’ kits. Sunderland-born Andy Haldane, a former Bank of England chief economist, has been announced as the next chancellor of Sheffield University. Plans have been approved to build a new urgent treatment centre (UTC) next to the accident and emergency unit at the RVI in Newcastle. It is expected to open before the end of the year. Three floating islands have been installed at Middlehaven Dock in Middlesbrough to encourage wildlife in an area where little natural habitat exists. The National Trust has said there is some hope that puffins are building up immunity to bird flu as the inner Farne Island prepares to welcome visitors for the season.
A new treasure
There are - or were - only 10 Treasure Houses of England, a small group of the country’s finest houses, palaces and castles, dedicated to bringing their history and collections to a wider audience. There are now 11 after Raby Castle in County Durham was invited to join the elite group.
After inheriting Raby in 2016, Lord and Lady Barnard have been committed to opening up Raby more widely to visitors from all over the world following a three-year restoration programme.
Victoria Howard, custodian of Castle Howard and chair of the Treasure Houses Group said: “The Treasure Houses work closely together to benchmark and share best practice as visitor attractions and custodians of natural and built heritage. We are delighted that Raby has joined this group, following their significant recent developments and investment in their offer to visitors.”
Nicholas
On the Rise
North Shields-based charity Rise North East has merged with County Durham Sport, extending its support for health and wellbeing across the North East Combined Authority area. The charity, formed in January 2020 through the merger of Northumberland Sport and Tyne and Wear Sport, hopes to unlock further funding and enhance its role in tackling health inequalities through sport and physical activity.
Joined up approach
A new Seafront Business Improvement District (BID) will begin operations in Sunderland on May 1, extending the success of the existing city centre BID. Sharon Appleby, chief executive of both BIDs, said: "We are absolutely thrilled that the businesses in both Roker and Seaburn have recognised the value that a BID can bring to the area.”
Business bites
Sage CFO Jonathan Howell has announced he will step down at the end of the year after 12 years with the Newcastle-based accounting giant. He will be replaced by Jacqui Cartin who joined from KPMG in 2018. Significant cost savings has resulted in soft drinks company Fentimans return to profit despite a dip in sales in the last financial year. David Whitehead and Joanne Dwyer, the owners of gastropubs The Jolly Fisherman, in Craster, and The Woodmans Arms, in Whickham, have added the five-star boutique hotel Yorebridge House in the Yorkshire Dales to their portfolio. Newcastle-based law firm Womble Bond Dickinson has formed a strategic alliance with leading Brazilian law firm Schmidt Valois. The partnership is particularly focused on the energy sector, where both firms have substantial international expertise. Newcastle-based Home Group has secured £260m in a refinancing round to allow it to continue developing properties for affordable rent, social rent and affordable home ownership as well as improving the energy efficiency of their estate. The interior of the Hard Rock Cafe on Newcastle’s Quayside is to be stripped and sold off following its collapse into administration last month.
THE WIDER VIEW
Bigger trouble ahead
The huge cost of England’s special educational needs and disability (SEND) crisis shows no sign of easing. A Guardian investigation has revealed councils will overspend on SEND services by nearly £2bn over the next year, pushing their accumulated deficits to at least £5.2bn by the end of March 2026.
The date is crucial because that is when the £5.2bn debt, hidden away off local authority books using an accounting fix for seven years, is due to come back on to the balance sheets, threatening to instantly bankrupt scores of town halls.
The Government faces a massive headache, not just with what to do about the rapidly increasing billions of historic SEND debt, but how to keep a lid on future SEND spending.
It is more than 20 years since he last kicked a ball in anger, but, as The Telegraph’s chief sports writer Oliver Brown says, Paul Gascoigne’s mystique has endured through the mayhem.
Brown went to see Gascoigne perform at a 200-capacity club in Preston where a ‘platinum’ ticket cost £200 for a seat at a pub table at the front and a photograph with the man himself.
“What the ticket neglects to convey is how acutely vulnerable he is, or how often he starts to cry. He stays glued to his chair, gently rocking back and forth as a million different expressions flicker across his features.
“For all the precariousness of Gascoigne’s existence, one certainty is that wherever he turns up, he encounters a reaction of near-universal love.
“As he puts it: ‘I’ve snorted cocaine off toilet seats, I’ve been in more nightclubs than I’ve had football clubs. And still the Football Association wanted me to be an ambassador for my country. I’ve had a bit of a life, to be fair.’
“One minute he is wobbling with emotion at the turns life has taken, the next he is using his anguish as a gag at his own expense.”
1978 ad break
The people have spoken… the Guinness ads from the 80s proved popular in previous editions, but the number of people who clicked to see last week’s Hamlet ad featuring Gregor Fisher as The Baldy Man surpassed both of those by some distance. It looks like we have a series on our hands. Not sure what to call it though. Any ideas?
This week I present to you an ad made in 1978 for Cinzano, one of several starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins where the glamorous soap star invariably gets rather wet.
I’m now taking requests for classic ads you would like to see again.
Psst, seen this…
