Ben Houchen has been quizzed on employment, crime, transport and Teesworks by residents from across the region.
The Tees Valley Mayor was grilled on all manner of topics as he began his monthly appearances in BBC Radio Tees’ “hot seat” on Thursday, May 15.
Chatting to host Amy Oakden, who explained that listeners “could ask whatever you want”, the Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen fielded questions about a skills shortage, drink and drugs in Stockton town centre, and capping bus fares, amongst many other topics.
The two were joined by political reporter David Macmillan, who explained what the metro mayor is responsible for, saying: “The mayoral roles were essentially set up above anything else to try and create wealth and prosperity and jobs and make region-wide places better to live,” adding: “One of Ben Houchen’s roles is to make sure that people have the right abilities to get a career and that local businesses can find staff they need to grow.” There are also transport and tourism related responsibilities, and a need to attract investment.
The first question of the day came from John Kruse, from Ramp Training Group in Middlesbrough. He asked about the “skills shortage”, and the estimates of an extra 250,000 extra skilled workers being needed by 2028 across the country. He asked what support and opportunities there are for school leavers and young adults “to bridge that skills gap”.
Mayor Houchen firstly recognised the work of local colleges, Teesside University and private providers who deliver skills programmes. The Tees Valley Mayor went on to explain that he has direct control over the adult education budget, which is funding for people aged 19 or over, who want to reskill or get a qualification. He said funding is provided to enable training to match jobs that are being created in the local area.
In response to a related follow-up question about the Teesworks Skills Academy, he said: “If we sit here in five or 10 years time and we've created thousands and thousands of jobs, and we meet our target, that’s great - but if little Johnny and little Jane who live in Grangetown or South Bank don’t get those jobs, then we haven’t really done what we set out to do. We want to make sure that local people get those opportunities.” Additionally, when it comes to young people not going into manual professions, he said that the narrative about these jobs needed to be changed because such roles aren’t “inferior” to more digital jobs.
Another topic discussed was the risk of Stockton becoming a “no-go area”, with caller Val taking issue with “all the drinking that goes on during the day”, adding that she had witnessed a drug deal take place and that “these people are spoiling it for everybody else”.
Mayor Houchen said the issue doesn’t just relate to Stockton, but other places like Middlesbrough. He said while not directly in charge, “it’s something I have to get increasingly involved in” as people need to feel safe for regeneration efforts to succeed, citing Middlesbrough town centre. He added that it is also about the perception of crime, as well as it actually taking place, which is something that Middlesbrough’s Director of Regeneration recently discussed.
On Stockton, he added: “I keep challenging Stockton and I keep challenging Cleveland Police, that while we’re spending a lot of money regenerating our town centres, we’ve got to get it right with tackling crime. To be frank, Val, I’m personally a believer in zero tolerance crime.” Mayor Houchen said in his view, stopping the little things would stop the big things and that there are issues with the geography of where Stockton provides some services, with probation services being provided “just in and around the high street”.
Presenter Amy Oakden said that lots of questions had been received regarding Teesworks. Quizzing Mayor Houchen on the matter was Gillian Tarry, from Eston, who described herself as “one of these idiots and asking an insane question”, in reference to a recent TVCA Cabinet meeting. She asked the mayor how he could defend presiding over an organisation that has been on the receiving end of the Tees Valley Review (an independent review, looking into the alleged corruption at Teesworks. No illegality was found, although 28 recommendations were made). Ms Tarry also raised the three years of disclaimed accounts, the recent Best Value Notice and a “damning” letter from external auditor EY.
The mayor said: “When it comes to Teesworks, what people need to recognise is that some of the controversy, actually most of the controversy that came about over the last couple of years, was highly political.” He took issue with Andy McDonald’s 2023 comments in the House of Commons, adding: “He’s refused to repeat those accusations outside of parliament”. Mayor Houchen said the accusations left a “stain” over the region, adding: “As soon as those accusations were made, it caused certain investors to pause looking at Teesside as a location for investment.”
When asked last year if based on the outcome of the Review if he regretted making the accusations, Labour MP Mr McDonald said: "Absolutely not. Let’s think that through. Where there are such grave failings in governance - and I’ve never seen a report like it - my remarks were well-founded. That’s not how to discharge best value for £500m of tax payers’ money.”
Numerous questions were asked of the mayor on the topic of transport, including the Linthorpe Road cycle lane, the airport and buses. One of the final questions of the Q&A came from Emma in Hartlepool, who highlighted North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’ use of mayoral powers to cap single bus fares at £2.50, she asked Mayor Houchen why he hadn’t done this.
He responded that previously, there was a £2 bus cap and that when Labour came into power nationally, this was increased to £3, adding: “We don’t have the revenue that Kim McGuinness has in the North East to be able to subsidise buses to that scale, to be able to bring it down to £2.50.”
Mayor Houchen will be making monthly appearances on BBC Radio Tees going forward.
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