TEES Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has said it is ridiculous to suggest plans for Teesside Airport aren’t being scrutinised after frustrated councillors demanded to know more about its financial costs.

Julie Gilhespie, the chief executive of Tees Valley Combined Authority, faced a barrage of questions from members of the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee about the current picture at the airport.

The airport was taken over by the combined authority in a £39m deal early last year and is now operated by Stobart Aviation in what has been described as an arms-length arrangement.

Mr Houchen recently hailed the resumption of a new service to London Heathrow Airport after more than a decade, but at the same time confirmed Teesside was continuing to lose about £2m a year and it could be several more years before the airport broke even.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that no additional money had been allocated to the airport since a ten-year rescue plan was agreed in January last year.

At a meeting of the committee Councillor Ian Haszeldine requested a total figure for the costs to date and predictions for the next 12 months from Ms Gilhespie, who had provided an update report on the airport.

He said: “We need to be clear and have real information around the finances of the airport.

“It is still not good enough that this financial information is not available.”

Ms Gilhespie said: “We committed to bringing you the annual results of the airport each year and we will.

“The accounts for this year are still being finalised and soon as they are finalised they will be shared.

“The other thing we committed to do was to bring the annual business plan each year, but it has been delayed because of covid-19.

“As soon as we have worked through the implications of Covid we will share it.”

Cllr Haszeldine said under the constitution, the committee could insist that Mr Houchen and a representative of Stobart attend one of its meetings to answer questions.

He said: “We should do that when we have budgetary figures to actually question them on.”

Councillor Sue Jeffrey said: “I find it difficult to understand our relationship with the airport company.

“We agreed a business plan that invested a significant amount of money over a significant period and we have entrusted the spend of that to the airport company and its board.

“Who is making the decisions and can we scrutinise those decisions to ensure our money is being spent wisely?”

She added: “If something were to happen to the airport and there weren’t to be sufficient value in its assets to cover off the debts incurred – who would pick up that bill?

“Would it be the tax payers of the Tees Valley and the individual local authorities?

“It is really important that we collectively as representatives of the local authorities are able to scrutinise the commercial decisions of the airport and offer our view.

“There is nothing I would like more than to see our airport come out of this crisis bigger, better and more able to serve the people of Teesside, but the risks that are being taken need to be considered so we can make our views known and I don’t think we can do that at the moment.”

Ms Gilhespie said: “The management at the airport make the day to day decisions at the airport.

“The combined authority provides the financial envelope in which it operates and that was signed off by the cabinet.

“Local authorities do not fund the combined authority and they are not responsible for the combined authority’s costs.

“So they would not pick up the tab were anything to happen with the airport or indeed any of the commercial investments the combined authority makes.

“There is no direct link at all between local tax payers and combined authority funding – that funding comes through our devolution money which comes from central Government.”

Councillor Chris Barlow said: “Nobody is involved in this overview and scrutiny committee just to go through the motions.

“I was expecting a more detailed report than what we received and I am actually really disappointed.

“We need some clarity about what we are doing with the airport and what the role of scrutiny is.”

Cllr Barlow said covid-19 had limited journey take-up and there was a clear interest in trying to understand what financial arrangements had been made with airline operators and whether payments had been made upfront for flights that never happened.

He said: “It would really be interesting to know and important information to find out what the take up of flights was over a six month period and how many seats have been filled on each of those routes.

“We are walking through fog. It is public money that is being used by a separate arms length company.”

Ms Gilhespie said she did not have the information requested by Cllr Barlow and added: “The combined authority is not directly subsidising airlines.

“We have provided a turn-around budget to the airport, but the airport is in control in terms of how it manages that.”

Newly re-elected chairman of the committee, Councillor Norma Stephenson said: “The frustration is very clear.

“When this deal happened, yes the councils voted in favour of it, but not just with a blank chequebook and get ahead and do what you like because we are not getting involved anymore.

“There were certain conditions when the cabinet and the mayor approved the airport plan.

“It is an insult to the members of this committee to say, as we have been, we can’t be told information because it is private.

“We need to have that discussion and this committee needs more input and answers to questions.”

She added: “If you tell people you are on this committee the first thing they ask about is the airport.

“I can assure you it is of a major interest and to every councillor in the Tees Valley.”

In a statement following the overview and scrutiny committee meeting, Mr Houchen said: “The whole point of these meetings is they give people the chance to scrutinise my plans, so it is ridiculous to suggest the airport isn’t being scrutinised.

“When the airport was run by Peel, Labour politicians showed no interest in scrutinising it and were quite happy to see it run into the ground and close.

“My ten-year plan, which was supported by all five Labour council leaders – one of which now sits on the committee – was made public before the vote and is still publicly available for everyone to see.

“No additional money has been allocated on the airport since the plan was agreed in January 2019 and no further decisions have been made on the airport since.

“Every pound we are spending on the airport was voted for and supported as part of the rescue plan.”

Airport chiefs are continuing to work on securing a low-cost budget carrier, something Mr Houchen has said is a priority and which could help the airport into profitability, and talks are continuing with a number of companies.

The new Eastern Airways route is the first to London Heathrow since BMI ended its association with the airport in 2006 and will connect the region with more than 180 locations in 84 countries.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flights have also resumed to Amsterdam Schiphol following the coronavirus lockdown, initially once daily, but with the intention of returning to three-times daily when conditions allow.

It was also recently announced that Eastern Airways’ route to Newquay, Cornwall, would run all year round.

Flights to Dublin and Southampton from Teesside are due to take off in September, although the service to Alicante was cancelled after the Government axed quarantine-free travel with Spain.