He's been given a budget, £670 million over the next 4 years plus another £182 million for another two projects, as a comparison Middlesbrough council's budget over the same period is £402 million he's has no requirement to provide things like social care, schooling etc.
So given the the vast finances at his disposal, something he rarely mentions in his myriad of press calls and photo ops, so despite all these wonderful headlines of job creation why are unemployment levels in Tees Valley still among the highest in the UK ?, why have crime levels continued to increase ?, why has poverty increased so that the Tees Valley continues to have some of the highest rates in Europe ? Why does the flagship airport continue to require additional subsidy that was never budgeted for ?
Houchen is a fantastic self promoter and exploiter of situations, he's an arch finder of the photo op and a world class user of his position to promote his agenda on social media, as an illusionist he's up there with South Bank's finest, Paul Daniels, thousands of jobs that have yet to materialise and figures that are consistently downgraded, major projects delayed, headlines that exaggerate and mislead, Freeport and airport turnover estimates that have no basis in anything but a fantasy, in 4 years and with 3/4 of a billion spent what exactly have we got to show for it beyond a plethora of photos of a beaming chancer in a High Vis Jacket and white hard hat ?