A second platform at Hartlepool will be reinstated, with a new lift and footbridge installed.
Read moreMayor of the Tees Valley
Ben Houchen wins second term
Conservative Ben Houchen has been re-elected as Tees Valley Mayor in a landslide victory. The mayor leads the Tees Valley Combined Authority, which covers the five boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. Read the full story here.
Winner, Ben Houchen, ConservativeMayor results scoreboard
Counting complete
First round results
Conservative, Ben Houchen
- 1st preference total votes 121,964
- 1st preference share 72.8%
Labour, Jessie Jacobs
- 1st preference total votes 45,641
- 1st preference share 27.2%
Second preference votes are only used to elect the mayor if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. The top two candidates then receive the second preference votes from their eliminated opponents.
Turnout
Registered voters496,853
Turnout34%
Change since 2017+16.00%
Fears of land shortage accelerate steelworks demolition
The Tees Valley mayor says demolition of the former SSI steelworks site in Redcar is being accelerated due to high demand from businesses looking to move in.
Ben Houchen says work to tear down structures including the blast furnace and coke ovens will begin on 2 August.
Copyright: GettyThe work will be completed within 12 months, instead of the original timescale of 5 to 6 years, because of the demand for land, Mr Houchen said.
"We are now in a genuinely realistic place that we could run out of land quite quickly if we don't accelerate the demolition of the whole site," he added.
"With things like the GE factory starting construction in October we can't wait around to free up the land to create the jobs and investment we need."
Houchen: Pride is returning to Teesside
Copyright: BBCConservative Ben Houchen has been re-elected the mayor of Tees Valley, receiving just under a 73% share of the vote.
Speaking to the BBC he says there is a "pride returning" to the area, adding it is "not true" the government has pumped lots of money into it over the past few years only because it was run by a Conservative.
He argues he has achieved more with the same amount of money than Labour mayors in the North West.
Houchen adds the problems in his area "won't be solved in a few years" but big projects - like the freeport and the airport - are "moving us in the right direction".
Top Tories congratulate Tees Valley mayor
Senior Conservatives have congratulated Ben Houchen on his landslide victory in the Tees Valley mayoral contest.
Party co-chairman Amanda Milling and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were among those who highlighted Mr Houchen's re-election.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said: "Few have done more to transform a community. Teesside is a very different place.
"Leadership matters. We need more elected mayors delivering for our communities."
Copyright: BBC
