‘mayors are united’: ben houchen on the launch of the great north

The Tees Valley Mayor has hailed the arrival of The Great North, while addressing concerns about the upcoming spending review. Ben Houchen was optimistic about the future at a gathering of

Northern mayors in Leeds on Monday May 19. During an interview, Mayor Houchen said that he thought he had been treated better by the current Labour government than previous Conservative

governments had treated Labour mayors. The Tees Valley Mayor was quizzed on what he hoped to achieve from the day’s launch. He was also asked how he felt about the upcoming spending review,

taking place on June 11. The review is a point of interest for many combined authorities, not least the Tees Valley, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves will determine how much of the previously

allocated £978m the Tees Valley will receive from CRSTS2 (City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements) funding. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, on what he hoped to

achieve from the gathering in West Yorkshire, Mayor Houchen said: “I think for a number of years now, we obviously had the Northern Powerhouse, which went very very well, and kind of

launched the North as a distinct place. We then had Boris kind of levelling up and that had its time and place as well. But now what I think we need to do as mayors is collectively come

together and instead of asking central government for what we should be doing, we should be going to central government and saying what we want for the North of England.” When asked how the

proposals would be more than just a logo, as Mayor Houchen had mentioned in his comments ahead of the event, he said: “It’s about leveraging on the strengths that, for example, we have in

Teesside around our industrial heritage, our connections to energy, green energy. And it’s how do we make sure that we take those unique selling points, work with a place like Newcastle or

Sunderland or Manchester or Liverpool, and put that together as a very unique package that we can go and sell across the world.” It was put to the mayor that The Great North could end up

being a somewhat damp squib if funding is cut when it comes to the spending review. He said: “I think what it will show is irrespective of what government do, the mayors are united on what

needs to happen in the North of England. And because of devolution, there are some things that we can do, irrespective of whether government cut funding or not. “But actually if we want to

supercharge the stuff that we’re doing, infrastructure is absolutely essential, and I think all mayors are completely on page on this”, adding that cuts to CRSTS2 funding would make the jobs

of mayors harder, and as a result, it would make growth harder to achieve. He added that mayors were lobbying the Government to keep the funding in full, saying: “It’s going to be a very

key signifier as to how committed this government is to the North and we shall see.” When it came to the mayor’s confidence that full funding would be received, he said that he is “never

confident” of anything until it happens but that the noise coming from the Government has been “quite positive”. He acknowledged that Labour mayors would be having different types of

conversations to the ones that he was having with the Government, but that they were making the “same noises”. On the probable result, he said: “I think the likely outcome is a cut in

funding by a percentage but not total cut in funding, which would be disappointing and frustrating, but there is still a chance that they do still provide the full funding.” Should the

region hypothetically receive half of the previous allocation of funding, which would equate to approximately £500m, Ben Houchen would not be drawn on which of the projects would be his top

priority. He did however confirm that if anything less than the full amount is given to the Tees Valley, then the TVCA Cabinet would be called into action to decide which previously agreed

projects would be prioritised with the lesser funding. When asked if he thought he may be disadvantaged when it came to the funding decision as he is the sole regional Conservative mayor, he

said: “No, not at the moment, I think it’s fair to say that so far, this Labour government have treated me better than the Conservative government treated the Labour mayors, so I can only

be thankful for that and hopefully it will continue.” JOIN TEESSIDE LIVE'S WHATSAPP COMMUNITY FOR TOP STORIES AND BREAKING NEWS SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR PHONE Teesside Live is now on

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