THE newly-elected Tees Valley Mayor has claimed talks to buy a loss-making airport will begin “in the coming days”.

Ben Houchen stunned his rivals last Friday when he swept to power to become the first mayor of the Tees Valley – beating Labour’s Sue Jeffrey by more than 2,000 votes.

The Conservative mayor, who pledged to buy Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) if elected, said he has “made contact” with the airport’s owners, Peel, since his victory, adding he has “three or four” ideas to discuss.

Mr Houchen was speaking to The Northern Echo as he signed the Declaration of Acceptance to officially begin the first day in his new role, where he claimed he was "reaching for the stars".

Mr Houchen admitted “making contact” with the airport before he was elected, but claimed “no discussions is very different to making contact.”

“I have had contact since the election on Friday and I now want to make sure I meet with them in the coming days."

Mr Houchen said it would be “ridiculous” put a time scale on his negotiations or give any details on how much of the mayoral budget – which is £15m a year across the five boroughs– he would spend on the airport.

“It is not going to happen overnight but discussions on my part will commence immediately,” he said.

“I am not going to openly discuss that because it would be a bad idea to put all my cards on the table.

He also refused to be drawn on the possibility of Peel refusing to sell their share of DTVA.

“It is not as straight forward as saying what do you want for the airport and tactics and ideas that I have.

“I look forward to achieving a mutual beneficial outcome as a thriving Teesside Airport is what we all want as a region.”

Following the election result on Friday, a spokesperson for DVTA said: “We look forward to working with the new Mayor, his Combined Authority colleagues, our local authority partners and Tees Valley Unlimited to ensure we continue to play an important role in driving forward the area's economy and providing access to worldwide destinations which are so important to the region’s business community.

“No discussions have taken place between the Airport and Mr Houchen regarding the Airport’s future and we look forward to discussing the Airport’s plans with him which are key to putting the business on a firm financial footing through maximising the potential of the whole site and developing new income streams which will create a sustainable business model going forward.”