A mayoral authority is facing criticism after changing its protocol because of a deluge of questions from members of the public.

The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), which is headed by Mayor Ben Houchen, now requires three working days’ notice of questions in advance of meetings instead of the previous two.

A spokesman for the authority said in one recent month it had received more than 140 questions.

He said officers had “worked hard to deliver full and detailed answers to all relevant questions”, while referring all remaining questions to the FOI [Freedom of Information] process”.

The TVCA group includes the South Tees Development Corporation which has strategic responsibility for the economic regeneration of the massive Teesworks industrial site near Redcar.

The influx of questions follows an independent review commissioned by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove into allegations of corruption at Teesworks whose findings were published earlier this year.

It found no evidence of illegality, but made 28 recommendations around issues such as transparency and value for money.

Mr Houchen accepted all of the recommendations which TVCA is now attempting to implement over coming months.

At a recent meeting of the development corporation board, legal manager and monitoring officer Emma Simson described officers working through the night in advance of the meeting on the answers to 51 questions raised and it being “quite some effort”.

Many of the questions about Teesworks and other related matters have come from an informal group calling itself ‘Teesside Resistance’, whose members are opponents of Mr Houchen.

In e-mail correspondence seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms Simson said staff had faced an “unacceptable burden” to respond within the previous 48 hour timeframe.

She wrote: “To manage the welfare of our staff, guidance was introduced to allow additional time for staff to answer questions appropriately, whilst maintaining public participation.”

Members of the public could still ask questions with two days’ notice, she said, and while there was no guarantee they’d be answered by the time of a meeting, “we will endeavour to answer all questions as soon as we are able”.

Ray Casey, from Teesside Resistance, suggested there had been insufficient scrutiny of the combined authority and its offshoots, which are responsible for areas such as business growth, transport, and adult education, employment and skills.

Mr Casey said it was “debatable” that replies given to questions had been full and detailed.

He said the questions able to be posed could only relate to specific items on the agenda for any given meeting which was “anti-democratic” and allowed for a “veto over questions that they can’t or won’t answer”.

Mr Casey, whose group also submitted questions to a meeting last month of the TVCA cabinet chaired by the mayor, also said there had been no consultation over the change in protocol – with some council leaders who make up the cabinet having been unaware.

He said follow up questions the group had submitted had been ignored, with nothing in the protocol to account for these, while “simple” questions had been directed down the FOI route.

Mr Casey said: “As time has gone on their willingness to answer questions has got worse.”

He said members of the public could also not ask questions during meetings themselves and the bar was as “low as it could possibly go” in terms of public engagement and accountability, adding: “We are being shut out at all angles.”

The TVCA spokesman said the organisation was “well ahead” of most local councils for providing timely responses and engaging with public questions.

He said: “As a result of the extensive time required in answering the questions, a revision to the existing protocol was required.  “This was decided by the monitoring officer.

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“This is to allow adequate time for officers to prepare answers to such a large volume of questions within working hours and current resources.   “Both the revised and previous protocol required for questions to be related to the agenda item and there has been no change in this respect.

“TVCA has published the answers to questions on its website to ensure full transparency,  despite no formal requirement to do so.

“There is no formal guidance for combined authorities in relation to answering of public questions at meetings and also no requirement to consult the public in terms of revising the protocol.”