Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has welcomed the Government’s commitment to provide an extra £71million to support the redevelopment of the former SSI steelworks in Redcar.
Since May 2017, the Government had already provided £137million to get the former steelworks site ready for redevelopment, and today (January 10) Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, confirmed on a visit to the South Tees Development Corporation they would provide the extra funding as requested from Mayor Houchen before the election in December.
The funding will allow work to clean up and prepare the site for redevelopment to accelerate, and the latest announcement means the Government has now provided more than £200million to support the redevelopment of the former Redcar steelworks, which closed in 2015.
The announcement also comes after Mayor Houchen vowed earlier this week to bring steelmaking back to Teesside if elected again in May.
Mayor Houchen said: “I have always said I would be the first to ask Government for more money when we needed it for the redevelopment of former Redcar steelworks site. So, after asking for I’m pleased we will be receiving the £71million to help accelerate its preparation for private sector investment.
“It is fantastic for our region that Rishi Sunak and the Treasury have made this money a top priority and announced it in the first few weeks of the new Government. With Simon Clarke in the Treasury, alongside the region’s recently elected Conservative MPs, it shows what we can achieve when our region is well represented in Parliament, fighting for what’s in the best interests of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.
“This is another significant step to help us breathe new life into an area that was devastated following the closure of the steelworks in 2015. And with my pledge to the people of the Tees Valley, that if I am re-elected, I will bring steelmaking back to Teesside, we can restore our rightful place as a global leader in the steel industry.”
The South Tees Development Corporation aims to create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two decades and will include the world’s first industrial scale carbon capture and storage project. It is believed that it is a multi-billion-pound investment that will see Teesside become the first net zero cluster in the UK and will create hundreds of jobs on the site.
