Ben Houchen (born 9 December 1986) is an English politician serving as the

Tees Valley Mayor The Mayor of the Tees Valley, styled as the Tees Valley Mayor, is a combined authority metro mayor, first elected in May 2017. The mayor is leader of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The office was created under the Cities and Local Governm ...

since May 2017. A member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, Houchen represents the five

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a mayoral combined authority and Local enterprise partnership area in northern England, around the River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The LEP was established in 2011 and the combined authority was establish ...

local authority areas of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland is a borough with unitary authority status in North Yorkshire, England. Its main settlements are Redcar, South Bank, Eston, Brotton, Guisborough, the Greater Eston part of Middlesbrough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton. Th ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. He also acts as chairman of the

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in England consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees ...

, the body that drives economic growth and job creation in the area. As part of his mayoral campaign, Houchen promised to bring

Teesside International Airport Teesside International Airport , previously Durham Tees Valley Airport, is an international airport located between Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees, Northern England. It is about south-west of Middlesbrough. The airport serves the North East ...

(then Durham Tees Valley Airport) back into its previous name and public ownership. In December 2018 Houchen announced that a £40 million deal to buy the airport had been reached with

The Peel Group The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

. The acquisition was unanimously approved by the

Cabinet in January 2019. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Houchen was re-elected for a second term.

Early life

Born in

, Houchen grew up in

Ingleby Barwick Ingleby Barwick is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is south of the River Tees and north-east of the River Leven. Large scale development of the town started in the late 1970s on farm lan ...

. He attended Conyers School in Yarm before studying law at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is the nephew of

Keith Houchen Keith Morton Houchen (born 25 July 1960) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. A forward, he scored 184 goals in 687 league and cup games. He started his professional career at Hartlepool United in February 1978, a ...

, a former football player for

Coventry City F.C. Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed th ...

Political career

Houchen was a councillor on

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government servi ...

, representing Yarm ward, between

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and 2017. In 2012 he stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate in the Middlesbrough by-election. In the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

s, Houchen was the Conservative candidate for the North East region. Houchen was selected as the

candidate for

Mayor of the Tees Valley In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in December 2016. Upon taking office, he became entitled to the style of

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. In 2019, he appeared on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

's list of the 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives', at number 100. He was accused of pork barrel politics in the runup to the Hartlepool byelection of 2021. At the

2021 Tees Valley mayoral election The 2021 Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of Tees Valley on the same day as other local elections across the country. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote. The election was originally due to ta ...

, Houchen was re-elected with 72.8% of the vote.

Durham Tees Valley Airport

In December 2018 Houchen announced a £40 million deal had been agreed to buy

Peel Airports The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

' 89% majority shareholding in

Durham Tees Valley Airport Teesside International Airport , previously Durham Tees Valley Airport, is an international airport located between Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees, Northern England. It is about south-west of Middlesbrough. The airport serves the North East ...

, bringing the airport back into public ownership for the first time since it was sold to Peel in 2003. On 24 January the plan was unanimously approved by the

Cabinet. Purchasing the airport was Houchen's primary election pledge in his campaign in the

2017 Tees Valley mayoral election The inaugural Tees Valley mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the mayor of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. The mayor was elected by the supplementary vote system. Subsequent elections will be held in May 2021 and every four yea ...

. As of 2021 the cost of bringing the airport back into public control stood at £40 million.

South Tees Development Corporation

The South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) is the first Mayoral Development Corporation outside of London. Chaired by Houchen, the STDC area covers approximately 4,500 acres of land to the south of the River Tees, in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland, and includes former SSI steelworks site as well as other industrial assets. The area includes the deep-water port of

Teesport Teesport is a large sea port located in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, Northern England. Owned by PD Ports, it is located approximately inland from the North Sea and east of Middle ...

. The STDC aims to create approximately 20,000 new jobs and contribute £1 billion per annum into the UK economy by 2025. However, as of late 2021, the economic impact of the port has been described as 'speculative' by a member of the management board. In January 2019, Houchen announced that a deal had been reached to acquire 1,420 acres of land on the STDC site from

Tata Steel Europe Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...

. The acquisition was signed off in February 2019. Consequently, he was one of the figures responsible in 2021 for the controversial demolition of the landmark

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

Dorman Long Tower, after lodging an appeal against its recent granting of a Grade II listing. He later accused the

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

official who listed the structure as being a junior member of staff, who had acted without the permission of senior managers. This was later robustly denied by Historic England who released a statement saying "The mayor’s statement is incorrect - the listing was not a mistake. Historic England advised DCMS to list the site. Following a site visit, our advice to list the site remained the same".

Personal life

Houchen lives in

Yarm Yarm, also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees, is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It was previously a port town before the industry moved down the River Tees to more accessible settlements ne ...

with his wife Rachel, an ex French teacher at Conyers School. He is the nephew of ex-professional footballer

who scored the equalising goal for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

in the

1987 FA Cup Final The 1987 FA Cup Final between Coventry City and Tottenham Hotspur on 16 May 1987 at Wembley Stadium, London, England was the 106th Final of the FA Cup, English football's primary cup competition. It was the third final for Tottenham Hotspur in s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houchen, Ben Mayors of the Tees Valley 1986 births Living people Alumni of Northumbria University