The Conservative Mayor the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), Ben Houchen, says he fully intends to fulfil his manifesto pledge of bringing Durham Tees Valley Airport back into public ownership. He will veto any plan to grant £500,000 of taxpayers money to the owners of Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) “ for nothing in return”. But Mr Houchen finds himself at odds with the TVCA’s 5 local authority leaders – all Labour – who have proposed amending the mayor’s budget plans in favour of granting DTVA owners, Peel, £500,000 to secure flights to the airport. The Labour council leaders said they blocked the mayor’s budget “when it became clear that the money requested had been earmarked for solicitors and consultants instead of support for the new routes”. The Mayor said: “I was elected with a clear mandate to buy our airport, and that’s what I plan to do. Labour council leaders sold off our airport for half a million quid, and since my election they’ve bent over backwards to pressurise me into giving taxpayer cash to Peel for nothing in return. It isn’t going to happen. I will veto any proposal that does not offer value for money.” There are currently no flights from DVTA to London, but 3 per day to Amsterdam with KLM to link up with Schiphol’s routes.
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Ben Houchen says he fully intends to fulfil his manifesto pledge of bringing Durham Tees Valley Airport back into public ownership
ByJames Cain (Gazette Live)
13 FEB 2018
The Tees Valley Mayor has said he will veto any plan to grant £500,000 of taxpayers money to the owners of Durham Tees Valley Airport “ for nothing in return”.
Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), has said he fully intends to fulfil his manifesto pledge of bringing Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) back into public ownership.
But Mr Houchen finds himself at odds with the TVCA’s five local authority leaders – all Labour – who, at a meeting on Friday, proposed amending the mayor’s budget plans in favour of granting DTVA owners, Peel, £500,000 to secure flights to the airport.
In a statement, the council leaders said they blocked the mayor’s budget “when it became clear that the money requested had been earmarked for solicitors and consultants instead of support for the new routes”.
Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, Sue Jeffrey, proposed an amendment to Mr Houchen’s budget to “guarantee the cash needed” to Peel Group.
She said: “The stakes are very high here and time is running out.
“We have a solid proposition to invest and grow our airport but the Tees Valley Mayor is only interested in paying expensive consultants to try to make sense of his un-costed election pledge to buy the airport.
“It is simply reckless to put these new flights at risk.
“Mayor Houchen needs to stop playing politics and support our airport.”
Cllr Bill Dixon, the Combined Authority’s cabinet member for transport, said: “The public will be rightly angry that, after the Tees Valley Mayor made saving the airport such a large part of his election campaign, he is now effectively blocking efforts to bring in more flights.
“Our airport is a valuable asset for our area – but airports are worthless without flights.
“It’s time for Mr Houchen to commit to making sure we secure these new flights.”
But Mr Houchen struck back, promising to veto any plans to put taxpayers’ money into the hands of Peel Group “for nothing in return”.
He said: “I was elected with a clear mandate to buy our airport, and that’s what I plan to do.
“Labour council leaders sold off our airport for half a million quid, and since my election they’ve bent over backwards to pressurise me into giving taxpayer cash to Peel for nothing in return. It isn’t going to happen.
“I will veto any proposal that does not offer value for money. I cannot support Labour’s sticking plaster approach.
“I’m developing my own plan to bring to bring the airport back to life. I look forward to Labour’s support when I present these plans in the coming weeks.”
In his official response to the proposed budget amendment, Mr Houchen added: “He is disappointed that the proposal from Durham Tees Valley Airport was submitted on the Friday before the Combined Authority’s Budget meeting on the following Monday, and that it is therefore not appropriate for Cabinet to commit resources without analysis of the proposal.”
Talks will recommence this Friday.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/mayor-promises-veto-plans-give-14286638
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There are currently no direct flights from Durham to London. You can fly indirect with KLM to London-Heathrow or London-City (via Amsterdam). Durham–Tees Valley Airport has one terminal.
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With three daily connections to Amsterdam, you can go global in under 80 minutes from Durham Tees Valley Airport.
From New York to Sydney, Cape Town to Bangkok and Cairo to Kuala Lumpur, our main airline partners KLM fly to over 200 worldwide destinations.
Whether you’re working in the oil and gas industry or simply want to explore what the North Sea has to offer, our regular flights to Scotland and Norway will have you connected in no time.
Our partners at Eastern Airways operate at least three flights to Aberdeen every day. They also fly to Stornoway, Wick John O’Groats, Bergen and Stavanger on a regular basis.
Whether you’re working in the oil and gas industry or simply want to explore what the North Sea has to offer, our regular flights to Scotland and Norway will have you connected in no time.
Our partners at Eastern Airways operate at least three flights to Aberdeen every day. They also fly to Stornoway, Wick John O’Groats, Bergen and Stavanger on a regular basis.
See earlier:
PEEL HOLDINGS BEAST EXPOSED IN SALFORD AND LIVERPOOL |
| Salford Star date: 4th April 2013 http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=1761 INDEPENDENT REPORT DESTROYS PEEL HOLDINGS CREDIBILITY “It is hardly surprising that there is a perception Peel has local governance – if not local authorities themselves – in its pocket” Over just two months of last year, Salford City Council handed three different Peel Holdings companies almost £2million of public money. Yet those companies, ultimately controlled offshore, have no accountability. Salford’s experience of Peel is being mirrored in Liverpool, where the Peel `beast’ is virtually running the region via its massive Liverpool and Wirral Waters projects. A new independent report from ExUrbe takes an in-depth look at Peel. And its critique and research is devastating… |
| “Peel is heavily reliant upon other people’s money to fund its enormous ambitions” ExUrbe In its last statement of public spending over £500, Salford City Council reveals that in just two months (November and December 2012) Peel Holdings was handed almost £2million of public money for projects that are totally obscure to anyone who didn’t actually write the cheques. In November 2012, there were two lots of £560 rent paid to Peel Media Ltd from the Council’s Chief Executive’s budget. Also paid to Peel Media was just over £45,000 for `service tenancies’. We can guess that these payments are related to rents for The Landing and The Greenhouse at MediaCityUK. Meanwhile, also in November, Peel Investments (North) Ltd was paid £111,321 in `misc grants’ for `capital expenditure’. We know it’s something to do with Port Salford but that’s about it. In November and December, a company called Peel Investments (Intermediate) Ltdwas paid a total of £1,744,320 in `misc grants’ for `capital expenditure’ – but for what purpose we have absolutely no idea. A look at the last accounts for Peel Investments (Intermediate) Ltd reveals nothing about its activities, except that its `principal activities’ are “property investment and development and the operation of a golf driving range”. During the year 2012, Peel Investments (Intermediate) Ltd had a turnover of only £654,000 and made an operating loss of over £7million. How and why, we’ll never know because its ultimate holding company is Tokenhouse, which is registered offshore in the Isle of Man and controlled by the 1997 Billown Settlement Trust (John Whittaker’s private family trust) of which there is no publicly available information. Yet Salford Council is happy to hand this unaccountable, offshore company £1,744,320. Where are the ethics in that? This example is just the tip of the huge financial, political and moral iceberg that is Peel Holdings. ………. and it continues at length …. http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=1761 . |
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has ordered Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) officials to ‘put up or shut up’ following the loss of Scottish services, and reiterated an election pledge to overthrow operator Peel and buy the site. It has been revealed that Loganair is shelving Aberdeen services next month. The flights, aimed predominantly at offshore oil workers, were only introduced to DTVA in October 2017, but Loganair says it is “unable to make the commercial case to lease the required aircraft” to continue the route. DVTA has already lost its flights to Norwich. The airport wants the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) to provide £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to “support route & passenger growth” and attract businesses. The TVCA had previously agreed to provide Peel with financial help after it pledged the airport would remain open until at least 2021 while a 5-year masterplan was developed. But the Mayor will not agree to this spending, that he believes does not give taxpayers’ value for money. He expects Peel to make a success of the airport, or sell it to someone who will.
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