The Tees Valley Combined Authority: A Revolving Door of Cronyism..

The 'Merry Go Round of appointments to posts at the TVCA continues, as former MBC Chief gets chairmanship role at both the MDC & HDC, despite working for one of the combined authorities biggest financial beneficiaries...

24th June 2025

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is once again been put under the spotlight—this time, over its increasingly opaque and questionable recruitment practices.

Coming just two months after the 'troubled' combined authority was slapped with a Government Best Value Notice, it seems the TVCA is operating more like a “jolly old boys club” than a public institution accountable to taxpayers. The latest round of appointments only adds weight to long-standing concerns that the same familiar faces seem to be being shuffled from one taxpayer-funded role to another, regardless of their track records—or even potential conflicts of interest.

Parkinson’s Political Merry-Go-Round

Tony Parkinson was the CEO of Middlesbrough Council until 2023, when he then walked straight into a role with north east housing developers Jomast

Let’s start with Tony Parkinson, the former chief of Middlesbrough Council, who stepped down in 2023. Instead of bowing out of public life however, Parkinson has somehow landed on his feet—this time as the Chair of both the Hartlepool and Middlesbrough Development Corporations.

But this is no ordinary comeback. Parkinson’s CV clearly states he’s been working for Jomast Developments Ltd, one of the biggest financial beneficiaries of the TVCA. Parkinson left Middlesbrough Council & went to work for a developer that's raking in millions from the combined authority, and now appears to have landed a cherry-picked £15,000-a-year part-time chairmanship… overseeing developments that directly benefit his former employer, with critics already seeing this as a grotesque conflict of interest dressed up as "public service."

Same Faces, Bigger Pay Packets

Bev Bearne, who works for one of Teessides most controversial local councils bags not one role.... but two at the TVCA

Then there's Bev Bearne, who served as Hartlepool Borough Council’s Director of Development & Growth. Despite Hartlepool Council’s rock-bottom reputation—and mounting calls for a further public petition of no confidence—Bearne has now reportedly stepped up to become The Chief Operating Officer of both Hartlepool and Middlesbrough Development Corporations, at a staggering salary of £129,103.

Given the ongoing governance chaos at Hartlepool Borough Council, one might reasonably question how someone so closely tied to a failing local authority was not only considered, but fast-tracked to lead not one, but two major development corporations.

A Public Institution in Crisis

All this comes in the wake of a Best Value Notice issued by the government in April 2025, warning the TVCA was suffering from serious governance concerns. That notice reportedly forced Mayor Ben Houchen to step down as chair of the development corporations due to perceived conflicts of interest—a clear signal that central government is deeply concerned about the state of affairs in Tees Valley.

But rather than reform, the TVCA seems determined to double down—handing powerful, well-paid roles to insiders with questionable pasts and even deeper questionable affiliations.

A Closed Shop, Funded by You

The TVCA's looking to be increasingly 'hobbled together' in a way that's raising questions over its culture & viability to the local tax payer.

The pattern seems to be too glaring to ignore. People with links to underperforming councils or TVCA-funded developers appear to be getting slotted into top roles without any clear, open, or competitive recruitment process. It's starting to look less like a coincidence, but more like a culture—a culture of recycling cronies, shielding accountability, and locking out new talent from ever stepping through the door.

Critics claim It’s more evidence of a systemic failure of governance at the very top of the Tees Valley Combined Authority that's scrambling desperately to cast off the shackles of its Best

Value Notice, fearing a second declaration of effective 'No Confidence' from the government will lead to its gravy train funding being reviewed, or potentially worse, commissioners being brought in by the government to work out what's gone wrong ...

The public trust is clearly being eroded by backroom deals and a woeful lack of transparency from the TVCA. With seemingly nothing holding the Combined Authority to account.—not just by central government, but seemingly by every resident across Teesside who's footing the bill for this political merry-go-round.

If this isn’t a public institution in crisis, then what is?