Tees Valley Mayor submits plan for new Hartlepool Mayoral Development Corporation to Levelling Up Secretary

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has written to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up to formally designate the Hartlepool Development Corporation.

If approved, the new organisation will cover the Oakesway Business Park, retail and leisure land - including Mill House Leisure Centre and Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, along with public areas and civic buildings.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority has set aside funding worth £20 million to drive the project forward, with plans also for a Middlesbrough Development Corporation.

Both are expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

Mayor Houchen said: “I have now officially put the plans for two Mayoral Development Corporations to the Levelling Up Secretary, which will create radically overhauled town centres and have a wider knock-on effect in making our region an even better place to live, visit and invest.”

He also addressed Hartlepool and Middlesbrough business bosses local about the potential benefits the development corporations could bring at events.

Shane Moore, leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “It’s great news that things are really getting moving for these once-in-a-generation opportunities to reshape our town, which will have a real knock-on effect right across the borough.

“With these engagement events, our business bosses now have a better and more practical understanding of the benefits that they – and others – will see, all helping to spread the message that there has never been a better time to live, work and invest in Hartlepool.”