TVCA officials have confirmed £15m from a 90-acre land sale has been paid in full and is included in the most recent financial update.

The sale caused controversy over fears the plot had been sold for £100.

In April, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald, citing a Private Eye article in Parliament, claimed that land at the 90-acre site was bought for just £1 an acre and alleged “industrial-scale corruption” at the UK’s largest freeport.

Read more: Teesworks: We need to clear the Teesside air

A government spokesperson has since claimed it has seen no evidence of illegality, criminality, or wrongdoing. An investigation is now underway into Teesworks after Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and Labour’s Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy both called for a probe. A report is expected in the summer.

Concerns were raised about the land, which will soon be home to offshore wind factory SeAH, being sold for £1 an acre after the amount noted on a transfer document from HM Land Registry was £96.79 plus VAT. In June, Mr McDonald claimed this was for “tax reasons” and urged the investigators to look into it.

Documents seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show that the land was disposed of for £15m. Now, TVCA officials have confirmed that the full £15m payment has been received from Teesworks to the South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).

And it has been included in the most recent financial update to the STDC Board as part of papers ahead of a meeting that was scheduled for Thursday, July 6. However, this has now been moved to Friday, July 21.

Of the £15m, £5m has been included as part of the £127,713,000 ‘other’ pot of funding in 2022/23 and £10m has been included as part of the £88,236,000 pot in 2023/24.

It is understood that two separate valuations, from assessors registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, put the 90-acre stretch of land at £13m and £11.8m.

The £450m SeAH scheme, which should be up and running by the end of next year, is expected to bring in £7m annually in business rates and £26m over the next forty years in rent. It will also attract 750 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect roles.

Australian investment bank Macquarie has bought the rights to the lease for forty years for tens of millions of pounds. This is an agreement between Macquarie and Teesworks that is separate and outside of the TVCA and SeAH agreement.

Instead of waiting for the rent to come in each year, Macquarie has paid for the forty years upfront so Teesworks can reinvest the cash back into the site. The site will be leased to the TVCA for £3.65m per year but the combined authority will charge SeAH £4.3m in rent –the extra £650,000 will be kept by the TVCA, which equates to £26m over forty years.