THE leader of Darlington Borough Council has declined to offer blanket support to the Tees Valley mayor over changes to the ownership of a troubled airport.

Councillor Stephen Harker was challenged to publicly back Tory mayor Ben Houchen by the authority’s opposition leader, Conservative councillor Heather Scott as uncertainty continues over the future of Durham Tees Valley Airport.

At a full meeting of the authority, Cllr Scott asked Cllr Harker: “Do you agree with Ben’s attempt to rescue Teesside Airport or do agree with the Tees Valley MPs who have criticised the fact that one of the first things that he did was to stop the £500,000 that had been put into Peel with the previous leaders of the Labour local authorities?

“I think the history of Peel shows they are not particularly interested in Teesside Airport. They had in their plans that they would be closing the airport in 2021and that has not changed.

Cllr Harker said it was too early to offer support to Mr Houchen as he had “not really told officers what he has been up to” as regards the airport’s future.