The voice of business in the Tees region | 9
/NEWS
Mission – Ben Houchen is determined
to acquire the SSI site from Thai banks.
/COMMENT
TEAM WORK MAKES
THE DREAM WORK
T
Date set for SSI Compulsory Purchase Order
T
ees Valley mayor Ben Houchen
has vowed to take back “what
is rightfully ours”, following
confirmation that a date for the
public inquiry into the Compulsory Purchase
of Redcar Steelworks has been fixed.
The inquiry will start on February 11
2020 and run for up to 12 days. In April the
Tees Valley mayor instigated compulsory
purchase proceedings in respect of 870
acres of land at the former SSI site in
Redcar, which closed in 2015.
Negotiations to secure the land have
been ongoing since May 2017 with the
three banks in Thailand who hold a charge
over SSI UK’s assets but have reached a
deadlock without a final agreement being
reached.
Successful compulsory purchase of
the site will see the ex-SSI steelmaking
assets brought under the control of South
Tees Development Corporation, which
mayor Houchen said would enable the
development corporation to get on with
creating thousands of jobs on the site.
It follows a landmark deal signed by
mayor Houchen earlier this year to acquire
over half of the developable land on the
site from Tata Steel Europe. At 1,420 acres,
it represents an area about the size of
Gibraltar.
Since it was launched in August 2017, the
development corporation has already seen
more than 100 enquires, with a potential
first phase investment pipeline of £10bn, as
it aims to create 20,000 jobs over the next
two decades.
Recently it was announced that the
world’s first industrial-scale carbon capture
and storage project would be located on
the Redcar site and consultation is currently
underway with the investor, OGCI.
BORO’S NEW
SIGNING IS SECURE
M
iddlesbrough Football Club’s new
signing is set to make its mark at
the stadium and the training ground
– as its official security service provider.
Close Protection Security (CPS), a
fast-expanding Teesside business, is now
providing on-site security staffing at both
the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough
and Rockliffe Park at Hurworth-on-Tees,
near Darlington.
A longstanding supporter of the football
club, CPS extended its relationship with
MFC this season when it became a Gold
Partner, securing official sponsorship
access at the stadium including pitchside
advertising and hospitality.
Glenn Bartlett, managing director of Close
Protection Security, said CPS would provide
night-time and weekend security at both
the stadium and training ground for the
Championship club.
“We are really pleased and excited to
be working with Middlesbrough Football
Club to provide their security for both the
stadium and at Rockliffe,” he said.
“As a lifelong Boro supporter, never in my
wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be heading
up the security for my hometown club.”
CPS also work with Boro owner Steve
Gibson’s Rockliffe Hall Hotel and several
first-team players in a private capacity.
here was one brief moment when I
felt like the superwoman many of us
dream about being.
Jacksons had won the Company of the
Year award at the Tees Businesswomen
awards and I had made the family
Christmas cake, pudding and mincemeat.
This feeling of control was fleeting but
amazing.
The award belongs to each and every
member of the team because without
the efforts of us all we would not be the
business that we are.
It was particularly satisfying because it
acknowledged the strength and passion of
the women who work in the firm, but it was
in no way exclusively for the females.
We are an inclusive business and it is the
efforts of everyone regardless of gender,
age, race or religion which makes us who
we are.
It has been a period our team can be
proud of. Our in-house marketing team
reached the finals of the North East
Marketing Awards and we held an amazing
charity event for the Dragonfly Cancer Trust
in the Chapter House at Durham Cathedral
where our very own Simon Catterall joined
local authors to talk about their work and
what motivated them to write.
This was followed by winning
Company of the Year at the 2019 Tees
Businesswomen Awards – which was very
much the icing on the cake.
Which brings me full circle back to why I
cannot take all the credit for the Christmas
baking because Mr A, in a move which
cynics might say was a very unsubtle hint,
bought me a gift voucher for a day baking at
the Bettys Cookery School.
And so, while everyone else was hiding
from the rain and watching England in the
rugby, I immersed myself in a day of dried
fruit, cinnamon and festive treats.
Team work – there is nothing better!
Jane Armitage
Jacksons Law Firm
See pages 55-75 for a wonderful
supplement with all the details, reaction
and pictures from the 2019 Tees
Businesswomen Awards.
Teesside is home to the largest single cluster
of process, chemicals and energy companies
anywhere in the UK – and the second largest
in the whole of Europe. The multinational
companies that call the Tees Valley their home
manufacture around 50 per cent of the UK’s
foundation chemicals.
#TalkingUpTeesside #TalkingUpTeesValley