Teesside Council 'Served Legal Notice' Over “Misinformation” Claims Against Local Publisher..

Hartlepool Borough Council faces a possible defamation case against a local online newspaper if it fails to respond to the claims in 14 days..

Teesside Council Faces Defamation Claim After 'Misinformation' Allegations Were Made Against a Local News Outlet...

5th May 2026

A local council on Teesside could be set to face a costly day in court, after malicious claims were reportedly made against a local media publishing outlet.

Hartlepool Borough Council has been served with formal legal correspondence requiring them to respond no later than 14 days after The Teesside & Durham Post alleged that public comments made by the so called 'authority' over the May bank holiday weekend were 'defamatory' and damaging to the publication’s reputation.

The dispute follows an article published by The Teesside & Durham Post on the 2nd of May 2026 reporting that Hartlepool Borough Council had transferred £796,703.79 to Gateshead Council under what was claimed to be Children’s Services – Special Needs Services. The article stated that the payment appeared in council spending information as a revenue payment under “Other Transfer Payments” and raised questions about transparency, accountability and the rising cost of SEND provision in the region. The original report did not allege any impropriety by the council, or whether the payment was improper, but whether local residents were being given enough information to understand large payments being made between local councils, especially as Hartlepool Borough Council had previously stated that its Children's Services was the reason as to why its budget deficits were increasing, with Hartlepool Borough Council recently reporting it was projected to see around a Nine Million Pounds Budget Deficit, mainly caused by Children's Services overspending...

However, The Teesside & Durham Post says Hartlepool Borough Council published comments online to its official social media page describing the article as 'misleading' suggesting it formed part of wider claims of “misinformation” against the local publishing outlet which the council claimed it was tackling.

The Teesside & Durham Post says the council failed to evidence precisely what was inaccurate in the article & failed to identify what part of the article amounted to 'misinformation'. The council also did not use the newspaper’s published official complaints or corrections process before making the defamatory public remarks about the report.

A spokesperson for The Teesside & Durham Post confirmed that formal letters before claim have now been issued to both Hartlepool Borough Council and at least One Labour councillor said to be Cllr Owen Riddle, who's alleged to have repeated similar claims online while publicly identifying the publication as the author of the report.

The spokesperson said:

“We take action like this extremely seriously, particularly where we believe comments are persistent, targeted and deliberately intended to cause disruption to our journalistic activities.

“We stand by the article published. Nowhere in the article did we allege impropriety on the council’s behalf. The report raised legitimate questions about transparency and accountability in respect of a very large payment being made to another local authority at a time when Hartlepool Borough Council itself has referred to significant financial pressures in its children’s services.

“Hartlepool Borough Council is aware that The Teesside & Durham Post has a robust complaints and corrections process. Rather than using that process and setting out clearly what it believed to be inaccurate via the proper channels, the council instead chose to make malicious public allegations which we believe went directly to the integrity of our journalists and the publication as a whole.”

Owen Riddle, a Labour Councillor who's defending his council seat in this weeks local elections has also become embroiled in the legal action

The newspaper says the matter isn't about preventing the council from responding to scrutiny, but about whether a public body should be using its official platforms to make malicious claims about a local publisher without first evidencing those claims or engaging with the publisher through the proper editorial channels.

The dispute also raises wider questions about how councils deal with independent local media, particularly when reporting concerns the use of public money, children’s services, SEND spending and inter-authority payments.

The Teesside & Durham Post has said it remains willing to consider any properly evidenced correction request submitted through its official complaints procedure. However, it says it will not accept what it considers to be broad, veiled or un-evidenced allegations of misinformation being used to discredit legitimate public-interest journalism.

The Teesside & Durham Post continues to publish its local journalism free of charge and without advertisements. However its also raised separate concerns about what it says is the continued misuse of its articles by larger media outlets attempting to reproduce or repackage its publication work's without proper credit or permission. The Publication has previously faced numerous attempts by Hartlepool Borough Council for its site to be taken down on social media, as well as claims of bullying, intimidation & threats against its journalists, forcing many to leave the publishing outlet.

Both Labour Councillor Owen Riddle & Hartlepool Borough Council have 14 days to respond to the pre action claims against them...