TVCA Best Value

Notice: Houchen

in Deep Water

and in Denial

South Tees Development Corporation board meeting, 4 April 2025

Scott Hunter

4 April 2025

Having posted pictures of his departure on holiday in Spain earlier this week, Tees Valley mayor, Ben Houchen, was back in harness this morning, chairing a meeting of the South Tees Development Corporation(STDC). He began by commenting on the Best Value Notice awarded yesterday by the government.



He is pleased, as it turns out. Pleased because this notice is the lowest level intervention that the government has at its disposal given that it really had to come back with some kind of response to his plans to address the criticisms levelled at the Authority in last year’s Tees Valley Review. This much is not unreasonable. But things deteriorated from there.

Houchen then makes two further comments. One is that this intervention means that the government will not now refer the Authority to the National Audit Office (NAO). We went back and reread the letter sent by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) just to check. But the document does not say anything of that kind. It does say that, while the Best Value Notice will normally remain in place for twelve months, the matter can be escalated at any time if MHCLG feels that there is a lack of progress. It does not specify the nature of that escalation. We asked someone with knowledge of the process who informed us that this could indeed be a referral to the NAO.

Houchen then went on to reassure the STDC board that this would little impact the STDC as the notice was served on the TVCA. In reality, the notice will significantly impact every area of the TVCA, including and, perhaps, especially the STDC. After all, that’s where there have been major issues. That is what the Tees Valley Review principally concerned itself with, and the MHCLG letter states that it has also taken into consideration

“• the published audit reports for TVCA and South Tees Development Corporation covering financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23 which rely on the findings of the Tees Valley Review and identify significant weaknesses in value for money arrangements across financial sustainability, governance and improving economy, effectiveness and efficiency

“• the published audit reports for TVCA and South Tees Development Corporation for financial year 2023/24 which identify significant weaknesses in use of resources in relation to the Tees Valley Review and capacity in the finance and risk & assurance teams and indicate that the auditor is considering issuing statutory recommendations in relation to these capacity issues.”

So, in reality, the measures now put in place will involve very close scrutiny of the STDC, and Houchen’s attempt to play it down are entirely without substance. He is in trouble and, having surrounded himself with loyalists, both the TVCA and STDC probably lack the expertise to turn the situation around to achieve the standards of transparency in governance and financial prudence that the government is demanding. It could all yet end in tears.