Ben Houchen says he would knock down the Cleveland Centre

Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen’s comments in response a question he was asked at the first in-person Mayoral Question Time, which is an event that is due to take place twice a year at various locations across the Tees Valley, on top of his monthly phone ins on BBC Radio Tees.

His discussion of the potential destruction of the Cleveland Centre did come late in the answer, as part of big picture thinking, rather than immediate, realistic plans. Part of the mayor’s reasoning for the demolition of the Cleveland Centre was to make the town centre less disjointed than it currently is. 

The Tees Valley mayor also discussed more practicable plans for Linthorpe Road, focussing on getting buildings back into use that were formerly occupied by big name brands. As for the Cleveland Centre, Middlesbrough Council has recently opened the Live Well Centre in some former shop units, while the building also houses a hotel.

An audience member at the Q&A at Yarm School listed the big name closures that had occurred on Linthorpe Road, highlighting House of Fraser, Debenhams, M&S and most recently Next, before describing the town centre as a “slum”. 

He added that on the walk towards the train station along Linthorpe Road, “everywhere is shut up, it’s all shutters.” He asked Mayor Houchen if he was in contact with Labour mayor of Middlesbrough Chris Cooke about the regeneration of the town centre.

Mayor Houchen began his answer by discussing the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC), which is tasked with regeneration in the town centre. He highlighted that Mayor Cooke sits on the MDC Board and spoke of the importance of the council being on the same page.

He laid out what the MDC has done in terms of planning applications, and how the £200m Gresham regeneration plans received permission in just over 10 weeks and when things like this are noticed, “all of a sudden, investors are speaking to us about ‘maybe we can invest in the Cleveland Centre, maybe we can invest in the Hill Street centre, maybe we can invest in Next as well’”.

Mayor Houchen spoke about discussions with the owners of the Next building, as well ongoing conversations with the owners of the Debenhams building and how it could become office space, with potential retail and leisure space on the bottom floor. The mayor added: “We own, and are working with Middlesbrough Council on the House of Fraser building as well,” as he mentioned interested parties who want to redevelop the Cleveland Centre.

Continuing the conversation about the town centre, he said: “There’s a problem in Middlesbrough, that nobody lives there… so you don’t have that regular footfall that then also helps to reduce the barrier for smaller businesses to be able to set up, to be able to support local people that actually live there.” He said that in successful town centres and city centres up and down the country, people live and work in the same place, particularly young professionals. 

He added that when young professionals turn up to work for companies in Middlesbrough such as Double Eleven (a video game developer), they expect something more like Leeds or Newcastle Riverside in terms of having a city experience. “Middlesbrough is the hardest problem, from a regeneration point of view, that we have in the Tees Valley, it has been allowed to decay for so, so long. I’m articulating a plan that we have in place that will take us anywhere between five to ten years to deliver.”

He added: “If I could wave a magic wand, the one thing that I would do, if I could do this tomorrow, is knock down the Cleveland Centre. I would consolidate all of the retail… consolidate that really quality retail into a smaller retail sector, knock down the Cleveland Centre that kind of divides the town doesn’t it? If you are on one side, the other side of the Cleveland Centre feels like it’s a mile away, if you’re at the train station, Linthorpe Road feels like it’s absolutely miles away, because there’s a mental block there of the Cleveland Centre and it’s not what it was 30/40 years ago.”

He said that as a child, he would go to Middlesbrough to shop every Saturday morning, but “nobody does that anymore”. He explained, emphasising the need of a magic wand, that if the Cleveland Centre was removed, there would be more green space, a mixed-use space, in comparison to the current situation of everything feeling “a bit disjointed”, which he said drives people away. 

He concluded his answer by saying: “If we, over the next couple of years, because that is what it will be, get House of Fraser, Debenhams, and Next, regenerated and back into use, with a bit of retail and some other uses, that bring people to the town and start to regenerate that part of the high street, I think that will be a start.”

The Cleveland Centre houses not just retail but also a hotel. There has been a recognition from Middlesbrough Council that there is too much retail space in the town centre, however, the actions of the council show that the Cleveland Centre remains part of their plans, with the Live Well Centre opening in former retail units. When it comes to the wider town centre, the local council has focused its efforts on the leisure offering in Captain Cook Square.