COUNCIL leaders have been accused of striking a secret “backdoor” deal which could have seen the operator of Durham Tees Valley Airport receive £2m of taxpayers money.

A verbal agreement reached in March last year between the Labour leaders of the five Tees Valley councils and Peel promised financial support as part of a five-year masterplan for the airport and a commitment to simplify planning arrangements for planned housing on its north side.

It was never brought to the cabinet of the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) for formal approval and was shelved by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen when he was elected to office two months later.

Details of the agreement were disclosed to the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee following a request by Councillor Heather Scott, the leader of the Conservative group of Darlington Council, who is a member of the committee.

Last week TVCA agreed to allocate £500,000 from its budget to pay for the development of new routes and improvements to the airport terminal following an amendment by Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Sue Jeffrey.

But Mr Houchen, who says he will be bringing a proposal to bring the airport back into public ownership in the coming months, has pledged to veto any proposal to spend the money which his office says the constitution of the authority allows.

Cllr Scott said the £2m deal had been done with Peel in private and in the background.

She said: “Under their ownership the airport has been run into the ground and passenger numbers have plummeted.”

Suzanne Foster, from the group Save Teesside Airport, said of the agreement: “It is shocking in its intention and arrogance.

“The local council leaders met in secret and promised to give Peel another £2m of [public] money to do the job that Peel was brought in to do in the first place.”

Peel, which previously pledged to keep the airport open until at least 2021, recently revealed airline Loganair had quit the airport, having shelved its remaining Aberdeen flights.

It has said it has the best interests of the airport at heart and has urged that funding be made available to support passenger growth and attract new business.

Cllr Jeffrey said: “We had to come up with some proposals that were going to grow and secure the future of the airport and I was absolutely convinced at the time that the way to do it was to work with Peel on an arrangement that would ensure we jointly invested in it going forward.

“It never came to cabinet because the mayoral election happened and the mayor when he was elected had a different view of how things should proceed with the airport.

“We can’t carry on with this inaction, we’ve had an eight month impasse where nothing is happening and we cannot afford to wait any longer.

“Peel are a major player in the North of England and have invested significantly in the Northern Powerhouse area and they are partners with us. Right across the Tees Valley we work in partnership with the private sector to deliver economic growth and development.

“You can’t do it on your own as the public sector and they [Peel] have the potential to significantly invest in the airport and in the absence of anything else I would rather work with them to secure a prosperous future than just sit and twiddle my thumbs.

“I am a pragmatist and want to get on with the job.”

Mr Houchen said: “After my election in May, I arrived at the office to find this draft proposal on my desk.

“Given my pledge to bring the airport back into public ownership, there was no way in hell I was going to sign this off.

“I was clear then as I am today – Peel are not getting a penny of public subsidy for nothing in return.”