Response to Tees Valley review recommendations agreed to 'form basis of new governance structure'
The South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) has agreed to the Tees Valley review recommendations and the final proposals will now be put before Cabinet at the end of a six-month period that began at the end of February.
Julie Gilhespie, Group Chief Executive of Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and STDC, delivered an update on the Tees Valley review, on September 26. She explained that work on the review had been ongoing for more than 18 months, from the point at which it was set up by then Secretary of State, Michael Gove.
The review into the Teessworks site was published in January and made 28 recommendations to make improvements after a panel criticised governance, decisions, transparency and finance, though it found no evidence to support allegations of corruption or illegality. This was followed by the Mayor of the Tees Valley, Lord Houchen, writing to Michael Gove to explain how features in the review would be addressed.
READ MORE: Teesworks: Concerns and scepticism remain, along with optimism: 'That was then, this is now'
Ms. Gilhespie thanked all the people involved in the process before listing a grand total of 44 different events, meetings and important moments that had occurred since Mayor Houchen sent his letter to Michael Gove, on February 28. After receiving Mayor Houchen's letter, Michael Gove responded, desiring a further update in six months, which is now fast approaching.
This time since has resulted in revised constitutions and processes that have been developed over the six month period.
Following approval at STDC and Cabinet (to take place on Friday, September 27), the agreed measures would “form the basis of our new governance structure”.
Alec Brown, Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council asked: “Could we have any conversation regarding having a standalone scrutiny for this committee, separate from the audit and governance committee?”
The answer was given that “There is no statutory provision for it.” He followed up by asking “You’ve undoubtedly done so much work… Do you think we’ve gone far enough?”
Ms. Gilhespie responded: “I think that the challenge is always going to be, when you are trying to work with the private sector at speed… you are always going to have that tension between public sector requirements for openness and transparency and scrutiny, with the need to have commercial decisions and move at pace.
“There’s no perfect answer to that balance, no other organisation in the country is doing what we’re doing, so you can’t even point to somebody else and say ‘well this is how they do it’ because no one’s doing what we’re doing.
The Group Chief Executive went on to say: “What we’re putting in place will significantly bring the knowledge and scrutiny, and by scrutiny, I don't necessarily mean the overview and scrutiny committee, I mean cabinet and everything else, of what’s happening at STDC, much closer.”
Board members agreed with the recommendations as listed in the report, with one abstention from Kevin Shakesheff, who explained “I am not against the recommendations at all but I’m a newcomer and there is an awful lot of information I’m having to take in… I would like to abstain until I know an awful lot more about everything that has taken place.”
Following this, the Conservative Mayor, Lord Houchen, thanked everyone involved, commenting that “It has been a Herculean effort… it has taken a lot of time, effort and resources away from our other priorities of actually delivering jobs and growth across the region because there are only so many people working in TVCA as an organisation and STDC that recognise the importance of this.”
Having been approved by relevant committees, the final proposals will now go to cabinet on Friday September 27.
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