Alan Docherty, Teesside Socialist Party
The Tories’ ‘independent’ review into the finances of the Teesside Freeport (Teesworks) is likely to be a PR exercise to exonerate the local Tory mayor and to reassure big business investors. ‘Freeports’ are areas where multinational businesses can avoid most regulations and taxes.
Musgrave and Corney
In Parliament, a Labour MP accused the Tory Mayor, Ben Houchen, of channelling public money to his business friends Martin Corney and Chris Musgrave. The taxpayer has already invested over £260 million into the site, and loaned Teesworks another £170 million!
Teesworks was originally under the ownership of the Tees Valley local authority. However, it is now 90% owned by Musgrave and Corney.
Musgrave and Corney were sold the 90-acre site at just £1 per acre! They have taken out £43 million in profits since, mainly from selling the scrap metal.
A close family member of Martin Corney, who is a director of one of the companies that own the site, has donated at least £12,000 to local Tory politicians. Chris Musgrave is also a Tory.
The inquiry is limited to just Teesworks, even though Musgrave and Corney are also linked to other Tees Valley mayoral projects.
The Teesworks site is highly contaminated. To allow for bigger ships to use the port, deeper dredging is required.
This has disturbed years of toxic chemical dumping from the former industries. This sludge is dumped just a few miles offshore.
Dead sea life regularly wash up along the Durham and North Yorkshire coast. Dogs have even taken ill after walking on the beach at Redcar. There have been mass die-offs of shellfish and other marine life, putting the jobs of local fishermen in jeopardy.
Despite such dredging being banned in certain conservation areas, because it is known to kill sea life, the Environment Agency has, in this case, denied that dredging is the cause, and is blaming algae blooms. But campaigners and independent scientists blame the toxic waste from the dredging and the site itself.
Is health and safety on the site a priority? A bulldozer and its driver ended up in the Tees, and he was lucky not to have drowned.
Invest
Under capitalism, private companies only invest in public projects like this if they can make substantial profits. The Socialist Party does not support freeports for this reason.
Instead, we say the old site should be developed in a genuine democratic consultation with the local community. The trade unions could help ensure rigorous health and safety is enforced, with workers employed directly by the local authority. That way there would be no profit-driven corner-cutting so toxic materials would be safely disposed of.
Read more about how ‘Freeports spell deregulation, low pay and a new race to the bottom’
