TEESSIDE AIRPORT
Cover blown
A WHISTLEBLOWER letter seen by the
Eye
will make unpleasant reading for those in charge at Teesside International Airport and poses tough questions over scrutiny of the operation brought into public ownership by Tees Valley regional mayor Lord (Ben) Houchen nearly seven years ago for £40m.
A self-described “senior insider at Teesside International Airport” has written to the directors and shareholders (local authorities and Houchen’s Tees Valley Combined Authority) about what they describe as “systemic governance failures [and] mismanagement”. Among more specific allegations are that the loss-making airport’s “financial statements have been deliberately massaged with public funds disguised as commercial revenues”. There are also claims that companies operating at the airport have been “incentivised with public money” and that senior executives have accepted “lavish corporate hospitality”.