Tori

Yes it is. He said it at his first public Mayors Question Time event in July where he also called the journalist who has done this incredible investigative work a “self-confessed communist”. The Lord doth protest too much, methinks.

I can answer that. It’s because the profits from the seed investment were meant to go on to redevelop the rest of the site but instead the STDC is left trying to default its loan repayments because Houchen allowed Musgrave and Corney to hoover up the profits and there’s nothing left to remediate.

It’s clear the BVN is not good enough because he continues to favour Musgrave and Corney over anyone else. See the latest Data Centre vs BP debacle. He’s gone to the media to portray it like there isn’t 1250 acres of land to work with. Build the data centre elsewhere on Teesworks. Why the BP land?

Reminder that this is what Houchen thinks of Richard Brooks. Would definitely have liked to be a fly on the wall when Houchen saw his 8 page expose had dropped.

#TruthOnTeesside

Get your copy of Private Eye to read the 8 page special by Richard Brooks. An incredible body of work that lays bare Houchen’s reign as Tees Valley Mayor.

He absolutely needs dragging to Parliament to explain himself and the police should be investigating the customs zone.

#TruthOnTeesside

It incredible that he keeps giving public assets away for pittance even though he knows they are on his back. Arrogance or stupidity?

He’s absolutely terrified of Private Eye. That much is clear!

Houchen up to his usual tricks then.

Using buses on Teesside is akin to a fever dream.

Kim McGuiness is offering connecting Washington to the rail system via Metro whilst Ben gives us.......

..... new rail stations at Teesside Park, South Bank and Teesside International Airport, an autonomous tram pilot and a third platform at Middlesbrough Station.

Oh and Eaglescliffe Station?????

With £1bn signed off by the government for the TVCA’s transport plan please have a look at their answers to questions put to them by the public at the last Transport committee meeting.

democracy.southteesdc.co.uk/about/wp-con...

If they integrated the services so you can jump on any bus would help. There’s so many journeys in the TV that require a change of service or bus operator that the £2/£3 flat fare has never benefited a lot of people.

Exactly and that means taking them into public control. We need one system with tap on/off to get people moving quicker. I got a free journey not long ago because the ticket machine wasn’t working. How often does this happen? How much loss is being incurred as a result?

Yep, they keep tweaking the timetables to ‘make them more reliable’ but it never seems to work.

Not at all. Especially when bus drivers are doing 12 hour shifts. A lot of issues people I know are having is due to shift change over and lack of staff.

2 hours to get to Newcastle by bus (used to take 50 minutes when I started commuting). 1hr 15 by train (plus 20 mins on bus to the station). Something needs to be done, we always seem to be going backwards.

Completely agree. Buses I’ve been catching lately are very late or don’t turn up at all making me late for appointments. I only have so much energy to expend as a disabled person and waiting around for transport takes energy needed elsewhere in my day.

PS: Sort the buses!!

The TVCA are being given £1bn to improve transport. Their current plans only add up to £515m. What are they doing with the rest of the money?

For an authority who is under special measures for financial mismanagement to be given this amount of cash I despair at what money pit it’ll be going into.

BBC Mayor’s questions.

🤐 Gillian was the only person who had her mic cut. Wonder why that is…

🤐 They also didn’t ask my question either.

⏰ It started at 9:15am so not even a full hour and it took 15 mins to answer 2 questions.

🤥 The next one is 2nd July. What happened to it being monthly?

Don’t forget 👇

Oh I’d love to know this! Send it in Leanne 🙏

Brilliant 👏

Send them in!

What discussions and progress has been made with regards the proposed “trackless trams”?

What discussions where had with Northern Rail about state of rolling stock, frequency improvements and short carriages?

How many passengers does Tees Flex service a year at what cost per passenger per journey?

Oof yes!

Promotional image for Mayor's Question Time, airing live on BBC Tees. Ben Houchen in a suit and tie is shown in the upper half of the image looking absolutely fed up. Below him, text invites the public to participate. It reads: "Mayor's Question Time Live on BBC Tees. Email: tees.news@bbc.co.uk Call: 08000 85 95 95 Text: 81333 and start your message with the word TEES." In the bottom right corner, there is a circular logo that says "Teesside Resistance" around a clenched fist, with the words "Truth Will Out" underneath. The background has a blue torn paper design.

‼️Reminder!

Just a FYI, they are being inundated with questions about Teesworks (naturally) so maybe think on other topics. If you need any help just inbox me. Happy to discuss your ideas!

Mayor who branded public questions insane to face public questions live on radio Monthly Mayor’s Question Time with Ben Houchen to start this week

Hi #BenHouchen fans

So, Ben will be holding a public questions session on BBC Tees on Thursday am

Read all about it here, courtesy of James Waterson and @northeastbylines.co.uk

Mayor who branded public questions insane to face public questions live on radio northeastbylines.co.uk/region/teess...