Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen Could Get 26.5% Allowance Increase — Backdated to June Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen Allowance Rise Proposed as Wider Payments Package To Cost £69,600 a Year... 6th November 2026 Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen could potentially be in line for a £17,200 allowance increase under proposals going before regional leaders this month, with the higher payments potentially backdated to June. Papers published ahead of the Tees Valley Combined Authority’s Ca

Left Without Lessons: Hartlepool Council Slammed Over Nine-Month Education Gap Hartlepool Council Agrees £2,700 Payment After Girl Misses Nine Months of Education 6th November 2026 The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has ordered Hartlepool Borough Council to apologise and make payments totalling £2,700 after an Ombudsman investigation found its delays left a girl without education for nine months. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld a complaint fr

MBC CORRECTS ITS FIGURES—But Middlesbrough Still Tops Tees Valley Sickness Table Middlesbrough Council has accepted that their Freedom of Information Response was 'inaccurate' CORRECTION AND UPDATE — 5th November 2026: Middlesbrough council has since acknowledged that its original response to Freedom of Information request #023593 contained inaccurate information. It originally reported 65,427 working days lost and an average absence of 23 days per full-time equivalent employ

Hartlepool Borough Council reportedly among those owed money as Hartlepool firm Focus Removals is plunged into insolvency. MOVING INTO THE RED: Collapse of Hartlepool Business Laid Bare as Papers Reveal £231,874 Creditor Shortfall.... 4th November 2026 A Hartlepool removals company which last month collapsed into insolvency owed more than £240,000 before entering liquidation, with the taxman accounting for the overwhelming majority of its debts, newly disclosed insolvency doc

Pamela Hargreaves, the former Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council set to lose her role as chair of the Hartlepool Development Corporation after plans for it to be axed were announced. First Her Council Seat, Now Her Chairmanship of the HDC: Former Hartlepool Council Leader Pamela Hargreaves Faces Another Exit... 4th November 2026 Pamela Hargreaves, the wife of Hartlepool Labour MP Jonathan Brash, is set to lose her role as chair of Hartlepool Development Corporation under pl

End of the Road for Hartlepool’s British Heart Foundation Home Store As Closure Date Set for November 14th... 3rd November 2026 Shoppers in Hartlepool have been dealt another blow, as national charity chain The British Heart Foundation this week confirmed the official closure date of its Hartlepool Store is just days away. A closure notice seen by one of The Teesside & Durham Post’s reporters today confirms that the furniture and electrical store at Middleton Grange Shopping

Planning Permission Required: Hartlepool Moves Towards Tighter HMO Controls New Planning Controls for Hartlepool's HMOs Set for December—But Council Warns of Enforcement Pressure 30th October 2026 New planning controls on houses in multiple occupation could take effect across much of Hartlepool from December 2026—but council officers have reportedly warned that enforcing the new regulations would place additional pressure on an already stretched service. Hartlepool Borough Co

A&E to get £1m - But Replacement Hospital Could Cost £2 BILLION HOSPITAL IN NEED OF MAJOR SURGERY! £2BN Price Tag Looms Over North Tees 28th October 2026 A major redevelopment of the University Hospital of North Tees could cost as much as £2 billion pounds, with NHS chiefs acknowledging that the ageing hospital estate faces mounting maintenance problems, financial pressures and an uncertain future. Documents contained within Hartlepool Borough Council's forthcoming Audit and