Has YOUR life improved under Lord Ben Houchen?

Andy_W said:
Here's a solution, spend £20m on roads, £20m on schools, £20m on housing, £20m on infrastructure and £20m on hospitals?

Seems a bit more value in that, than £100m on an airport that not many use, that there are other options for within a reasonable distance.

Then for the next 4 years do the same again, for the other £400m we could have not lost in the Teesworks "deal".

200k people landed or took off from the airport last year (passenger numbers are incoming and outgoing)
100k return trips
75k of those from Tees Valley area at the most?
50k trips from tees valley, assuming the average person did 1.5 trips? I do about two trips per year from it. Keep in mind there will be Aberdeen workers doing a trip per week mind, or one every two weeks or so, that average could easily be higher.

So now we have what, 50k people from the tees valley using it out of ~1.1m in tees valley, so that's about 5% who may be getting a good ROI. Even if that was double, which it won't be, it's still a terrible ROI for 100% of the people.

If passenger numbers double, it won't be because double the people from Tees Valley are using it, it will more be because the same people who use it now are flying more. Instead of flying from Teesside for 1/3 of their holidays per year, they might go 2/3 etc.

Took me two minutes to figure that out, and that's not my job/ business, if I took that on dragons den I wouldn't make it out of the lift.

It's a extremely typical Tory scheme to benefit 5%, but try and sell it to 60% like it's a benefit, when it's not, not compared to what they lose out on.

It's not like if the local roads, schools, housing, infrastructure and hospitals are **** that we can just go an extra hour up the road and use theirs instead, and they be better (Unlike the alternate airports with more options). These things get used by 90% of the people and their families probably 90% of their days, in one way or another.

The ROI for a local airport and giving away land at Teesworks, and then paying to do it up is absolutely $hit. If Houchen was a businessman he would have went broke in year 1.
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I want Teesside Airport to continue trying to become profit making as per the plan. If the plan fails then there is a real argument about its future.

If the Malaga and Tenerife flights happen, that would appeal to many more people, some going on their yearly holiday.

Newcastle Airport was losing a shed load of money not so long back and were bailed out by an investment firm for around £100m. I personally think a NE International Airport would be better, somewhere in-between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, on a metro & rail line, somewhere in-between the A19/A1. Newcastle Airport being the other side of Newcastle would have made the argument against Teesside even greater. But whilst there is a current plan for Teesside I will contunue to use it and support it. It's a great little airport that is on the up.
 
TheLodger said:
You might be slightly confused, Ben Houchen has actually bought the old Debenhams store in Middlesbrough via the undemocratic Middlesbrough Development Corporation. As for Hooters bar, would anyone put it past him?
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I am Ben Houchen. You win £5.
 
Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants said:
Newcastle Airport was losing a shed load of money not so long back and were bailed out by an investment firm for around £100m.
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If that doesn't raise a red flag then I don't know what will. If an established regional airport with orders of magnitude more traffic than Teesside is marginal then what hope is there that Teesside can ever be viable?
 
In so far as I am aware nobody had pledged to shut a viable airport.

If you are the kind of person that looks at the available choices and thinks, yup, I'll take the incompetent/corrupt* option, thats the one that works for me then that says more about you than anything TBH

*delete as appropriate.
 
ThePrisoner said:
If that doesn't raise a red flag then I don't know what will. If an established regional airport with orders of magnitude more traffic than Teesside is marginal then what hope is there that Teesside can ever be viable?
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Academic studies have shown that regional airports that serve less than 3m people each year will struggle to be profitable. Newcastle served 4.8m last year. Teesside served 220,000. See the problem? Teesside Airport will lose millions every year ad infinitum. It's an inescapable fact. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146519305897
 
But Newcastle Airport doesn’t seem to diversify into other sectors which Teesside is now doing. That earns money for non passenger flights.

Teesside doesn’t have a terminal the size of Newcastle's to run, maintain and revamp. It simply doesn’t have the same staff numbers so costs will be far lower, energy costs far lower and maintenance costs far lower.

Lets see where it is towards the end on the business plan.
 
Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants said:
But Newcastle Airport doesn’t seem to diversify into other sectors which Teesside is now doing. That earns money for non passenger flights.

Teesside doesn’t have a terminal the size of Newcastle's to run, maintain and revamp. It simply doesn’t have the same staff numbers so costs will be far lower, energy costs far lower and maintenance costs far lower.

Lets see where it is towards the end on the business plan.
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It's in Houchen's business plan that if it isn't in profit by 2029, the airport turns into a Garden Village. Guess who owns the surrounding fields....
 
Over heard at the Polling Station "we're here to get shot of that crook Houchen" (y) :D (y)

And, no it wasn't said by me or to me. West End Darlo and usually a Tory zone, several Labour placards on houses not a single Houchen or Conservative one to be seen.

Poor ickle Rishi is going to have a very bad evening I reckon/hope.
 
Don't forget if your looking for results.

Tees Valley count starts tomorrow morning with results expected about midday.
The PCC count will start as soon as the result of the TVCA mayor has been announced.

Both counts are getting counted in Thornaby.
 
Thing said:
Don't disagree at all....except maybe the last sentence. But what are Labour's plans? Except pointing out what a mess we're in after 15 years of the Tories, what are the plans to get us out of this? We hear sound bites saying more money into the NHS, more money into infrastructure, nationalise the railways, etc, etc...... but where is the money coming from? Anybody can say what sounds good but if you can't afford it its nothing but a pipe dream.

I'm going to buy the old Debenhams store and turn it into the world's largest Hooters bar!
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So i assume you think just crack on with these clowns. After the years theyve had in charge i think it would be reasonable to think they may have been a little improvement but no , only misery and you think thats ok?????
 
fmttmadmin said:
The Tees Valley Mayor powers are only in certain areas - transport infrastructure is one of them. There is surely far more to Teesside than just the airport. The bus and train services are shocking and expensive.
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The over implemented a £2 fare cap just after the.lockdown ended
If and it’s a big because the messages we are getting in the public transport industry is that it will be extended again, how will mcewan implementing his own cap make it less expensive.
It will be exactly the same fare as currently in place and, if you would care to expand on this, where is the money coming from if it changes to a local cap?
 
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