Since I keep being drawn into the debate on social media, some thoughts on the growing controversy over the financial arrangements surrounding the Teesworks site…
First things first. Teesworks – the redevelopment of the site of the old Teesside steelworks is of huge importance to the North-East.
It is in everyone’s interests that it is a success and that new businesses are attracted to Europe’s biggest brownfield site to replace the thousands of jobs that were lost with the demise of steel.
Sadly, Teesworks has become immersed in increasingly bitter controversy, with Private Eye consistently leading the way with accusations of a lack of transparency and accountability over the financial arrangements around the site.
The debate have been raised to a new level this week with the Financial Times publishing the results of its own investigation that has been underway for months.,
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen is under scrutiny over a decision that led to 90 per cent of the project’s shares being handed to two local developers, in return for them taking on the liabilities of the site, as well as half of the proceeds from scrap.
Middlesbrough’s Labour MP Andy McDonald declared, under the legal protection afforded by the House of Commons, that it was “corruption on an industrial scale”.
However, Mr Houchen insists that the criticism is a smear campaign by his political opponents. The Mayor robustly denies that there has been any wrongdoing, arguing that the financial arrangements were needed to unlock private investment in the site, maximise its potential and mitigate public risk.
The flak is flying and, ultimately, that’s damaging for the prospects of the Teesworks project, but those in power have to be held to account. It is a fundamental democratic right that has to be protected at all costs.
It is seven years since I stepped down as editor of The Northern Echo, so I now speak and write as an individual. And the view I have expressed publicly for some time is that the only way forward is for the air to be cleared by an independent inquiry into the Teesworks finances.
Mr Houchen has now agreed that there should be an independent audit, insisting it will prove that the rules were followed. It is clearly the only realistic option that can now be taken, and the inquiry needs to be thorough and transparent. The sooner it is carried out the better.
In the meantime, let’s be clear about the figures that were released overnight by Dragons’ Den star and environmentalist, Deborah Meaden, about the amount of money spent by the Tees Valley Combined Authority on advertising with the local press.
The insinuation – inevitably seized upon by others – is that it has influenced local coverage of the Teesworks issue, along with the associated controversy over the mass deaths of marine life on local beaches.
Whether the coverage has been good, bad or indifferent is for others to argue. However, I do think it is important to be clear that local newspapers have relied heavily on local government advertising throughout their history.
This is nothing new – not something that’s suddenly been thrown into the mix in the middle of an alleged scandal. Local government advertising will be part of the commercial model at the vast majority of local news organisations across the country, and every editor I’ve known has had to deal with issues where editorial and commercial objectives have come into conflict.
In my time, I’ve seen stand-up arguments between editors and advertising managers. I’ve been involved in plenty of such debates myself over the years, and I’ve no doubt that it has become more challenging since my days as editor, with traditional sources of advertising revenues becoming harder to secure in the internet age.
Without advertising revenue, there will be no local journalism – and, rightly or wrongly, local authority advertising remains an important part of that commercial model.
It can be a difficult balance but the bottom line for me will always be that the credibility of news organisations depends on journalists being free from commercial pressures when the public interest calls for an investigation into potential wrongdoing, and for those in power to account to be held to account.
Let’s just not pretend it’s something unique to the Teesworks debate.