AN MP has been accused of hypocrisy following the emergence of an email he sent to the Government prompting it to make a decision "ASAP" on the delisting of the Dorman Long tower.

The structure was demolished on September 19, days after a decision was made by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to strip it of its Grade II listing following an appeal by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen.

The email from Redcar MP Jacob Young to the secretary of state was sent on September 15 and was released following a freedom of information request (FOI).

Read more: 25 pictures of the moment Teesside's iconic Dorman Long Tower was demolished

It said: "Hi, Just a quick note to prompt the decision on Dorman Long Tower. Needs to be done ASAP, if decision is to delist. We need notification by 10am tomorrow morning to go ahead with demolition. J."

The MP was accused of hypocrisy by his predecessor Anna Turley, the former Labour MP for Redcar, who has previously described the demolition as "shameful".

The Northern Echo:

Ms Turley, who queried why Mr Young appeared to be lobbying to the Government to speed up the demolition process, said: "It's the principle of someone who told the public they were fighting for it but behind the scenes he was working with the government and the mayor to accelerate its destruction by overturning the listing which had been fought for by the community."

The note was the only email between Mr Young and the Tees Valley Combined Authority regarding the demolition of the tower, according to the FOI response.

Read more: Report reveals cost of repairing Dorman Long tower

Mr Young, who is a Teesworks board member, said: "I was front and centre of the campaign to save the Dorman Long Tower and worked throughout the last year to try and preserve it.

"Sadly however, as structural reports proved, there was no chance that the tower could have been saved from demolition.

“I never wanted us to be in this position and refused to make a recommendation without seeing the final report, as is clear from our task force letters to Mayor Houchen - but at the point it was clear the tower was going to have to come down, and knowing fine well that the listing status was not going to change that, my email was a prompt to save the tax payer hundreds of thousands of pounds in delaying the demolition.

"I lost this battle to the reality of the structural integrity of the tower and while that was a tough pill to swallow, I equally wasn't prepared to see hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money wasted delaying the inevitable.

“It is now time to move on however. The tower is down, and we should be focussing on the jobs that will come on that site.”

Vince Smith, an independent councillor for Redcar and Cleveland, who had campaigned to retain the tower, said: "I'm still annoyed about the way it all happened. If the building couldn't be saved that's one thing but the way it was done without the full facts and public debate leaves a sour taste.

"The way it was done looks like a cosy political set-up."

He added: "It's sad that since it has been demolished it has been left as a pile of rubbish."

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