The race for the post of Tees Valley Mayor stepped up a gear as the four contenders shared their ambitions with members of the business community.

Ahead of the elections in May, a hustings event was held at Middlesbrough College, with incumbent mayor Ben Houchen, Chris McEwan, Simon Thorley and Sally Bunce making opening pitches before fielding questions. Policies and plans to boost the area surrounded transport, job creation, adult skills and poverty.

The discussion was largely courteous and affable, bar a couple of minor swipes over findings of the review into the redevelopment of Teesworks.

The Northern Echo: From left, candidates Sally Bunce, Ben Houchen, Chris McEwan, Simon Thorley and chair ITV's Tom

Labour’s Cllr McEwan said negative headlines were “impacting on investment” for the area while Ms Bunce, of the Green Party, said, if elected, she would work to ensure the Teesworks project represented value for money to the taxpayer.

In terms of business, Ms Bunce said she would strive to ensure small and medium-sized enterprises within the Tees Valley can achieve their aspirations “by listening to their needs and ideas and encouraging entrepreneurism through diverse start-ups”.

Noting the region’s high rates of child poverty, suicide, substance addiction and the “lowest life expectancy”, she said an approach to tackle these issues was vital.

“You can’t build on a crumbling foundation,” she said. “If we can make life better, make life easier for people who are really struggling then the benefits will be seen across the board. We need an approach to improve the situation in our society as a whole and that will filter down.”

Ms Bunce, a volunteer, suggested boosting tourism across the Tees Valley would provide more jobs which are accessible to more people.

“What I hear all the time is everybody should be aspiring to a highly skilled job and a lot of people will never be able to aspire to that,” she said.

“It’s great to have investment but let’s not forget everybody else.”

Support for job seekers should be taken into colleges and community organisations, she said, particularly in more isolated villages of the region.

Cllr McEwan, who is deputy leader of Darlington Borough Council, said his plan involves giving everyone in the Tees Valley a skills and employment review at ages 16, 24 and 50. Working with colleges and schools and providers, the programme would help people find work in new and emerging industries, he said.

“Clearly we have massive potential and opportunity but need to ensure people have the relevant skills with a skills system to support people through every stage of their lives,” he said.

Jobs should be created for “everybody”, he added, and, along with Ms Bunce, insisted development should not come at the cost of the environment.

His “absolute focus”, he said, would be to drive inclusive and sustainable growth underpinned by five main missions – the economy, skills, transport, team Tees Valley “where everybody can have their say” and “being a mayor you can trust”. The current public transport system in the area was “not fit-for- purpose”, he said, and must be a priority.

His plans include a £2 fare cap on public transport and free travel for 16-18 year olds to ensure “all communities are connected to opportunity”. Lord Houchen argued those transport commitments are not possible without raising mayoral taxes.

“You can’t give out sweeties for free,” he said. “What I can promise is I will never tax you a penny as mayor.”

The current Conservative mayor said he has seen terminal decline across the Tees Valley for decades “by Governments of both colours” and they need to do “some very big things to ensure we have the infrastructure and the investment that we sorely need and deserve”.

He added: “You can’t do that by tinkering the edges. Spending a couple of thousand pounds here and there does not move the dial for where we are trying to get to on Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.

The current mayor said he has seen terminal decline across the Tees Valley for decades “by Governments of both colours” and they need to do “some very big things to ensure we have the infrastructure and the investment that we sorely need and deserve”.

He added: “You can’t do that by tinkering the edges. Spending a couple of thousand pounds here and there does not move the dial for where we are trying to get to on Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.

“So by doing the the big things, saving the airport, bringing the Treasury into Darlington, having SEAH wind on the Teesworks site, getting hold of the steelworks site, seeing hundreds of millions of pounds invested, seeing that return tenfold in the thousands of jobs that are being created; that moves the dial.” When asked how he would make sure how local people get the jobs being created, he said: “We’re already doing that”.

He noted the employment rate has risen by five per cent over the last four years and more than 80 per cent of those recruited to work in new civil service jobs in Darlington live within a 40-mile radius.

“The issue for us is not just filling the jobs but making sure Jane or John in South Bank or Grangetown, whether wanting to retrain or a young person looking to get into these opportunities, have the right skills sets,” he said.

Lib Dem and entrepreneur Simon Thorley noted unemployment figures have also risen by more than five per cent over the past four years, adding: “Jobs have been created but jobs have been lost.” The “vast majority” of people in the area work in the services sector and while manufacturing “is great,” he said, “it’s not labour intensive”.

He described poverty in the Tees Valley as “endemic” and “in many cases multi-generational”, adding: “Worst of all is the child poverty which in Middlesbrough is now at 41 per cent”. Apart from “being a moral scandal”, he said it was “terrible for business and the economy”.

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His mission to tackle poverty involves the establishment of an early years support fund giving targeted help to families who need it, bringing transport under combined authority control and expanding the bus network while making fares cheaper and free for under 18s.

He also intends to bring in individual learning grants, allowing people to choose what, when and where they want to study. “A combination of these things will drive down poverty and increase opportunity,” he said.

The event on Tuesday was brought together by the Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Businesses and the North East Chamber of Commerce with over 120 business representatives from across the area. The mayor represents 670,000 people in the five local authorities of Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland, Hartlepool and Darlington and any registered voter in those five council areas can cast a vote on Thursday, May 2.