Latest news with #TeesValley
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Ben Houchen got 'no reply' to new North Tees hospital meeting request letters
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen says he has written to the health secretary "13 times" about plans for a new hospital but has yet to receive a direct reply. The Conservative peer, who was being quizzed by BBC Tees listeners, was asked by a caller for an update on the project at North Tees in Stockton, which one described as "not fit for purpose".Houchen highlighted the importance of government involvement in delivering on his election promise, but he said his requests over the last year for a meeting with Wes Streeting remained unanswered. The Department of Health has been approached for comment. University Hospitals Tees said its teams were working together to develop a plan. Houchen was responding to listener Andy, from Ingleby Barwick, who said: "I just wanted to know what was going on because it is not fit for purpose for the residents in Stockton at the moment."I have been recently, all the ceiling tiles are falling in. It's very old and dated."BBC Sounds: Ben Houchen gives North Tees hospital updateExplaining his attempts to contact the health secretary, Houchen said: "I said I just wanted a meeting to talk to you about the need for a new hospital. I have not even received a reply. 13 times over the last 12 months."The only reply that I got, which was about a month ago, was his office, which replied saying: 'The secretary of state can't meet you and we will let you meet a junior minister at some point in the future'."Now to me that is not on." 'Speaks volumes' Houchen said to build a "brand new state-of-the-art hospital" that served the Tees Valley region and beyond "requires government involvement.""A new hospital is going to cost potentially £1bn and the secretary of state has to be involved in that process," he said."The fact that the secretary of state doesn't want to meet me speaks volumes." Houchen was asked if he had raised the issue during his meetings with the prime minister and other mayors in Downing said: "I raise it regularly with anybody that will listen to me, but ultimately because they have taken back control of the NHS the Secretary of State is ultimately the decision maker in the NHS."A University Hospitals Tees spokesperson said: "Our estates and clinical teams are working collaboratively to develop a strategic outline case to support our ambitions." Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Stockton Sixth Form College starts new aviation course
A college course will try to make aviation more inclusive and tackle the shortage of pilots, instructors have Sixth Form College is offering a new programme, designed with large airlines such as Boeing and British Airways, on Teesside from can learn skills in an inhouse cockpit, the interior of a Boeing 737 cabin, and a flight Noel Dennis, director of business development at the Atomix Eductional Trust which oversees the college, said students would be trained to go and "shine in an interview" with major airlines. "Our students here at Stockton Sixth Form College in these wonderful facilities will be taught by a new teacher who has 17 years as an airline pilot," he said."They will learn all aspects of aviation operations and there will be lots of field trips."Our unique offer here is that we have a Piper Warrior simulator an actual 50-year-old aeroplane cockpit." Pupils from Errington Primary School in Marske recently visited the college and said they were amazed by the simulation cockpit.A couple were even "definitely" keen on working with planes when they got Nichole Munro, chief executive officer at Atomix Educational Trust, said the course demonstrated a commitment to "bring world-class opportunities to the Tees Valley".The International Air Transport Association forecasts global passenger numbers will exceed pre-pandemic levels by 2025, which they believe will fuel a surge of demand for skilled aviation course is a partnership between Aviation Generation, a not for profit organisation which aims to get skilled workers in the industry, and Stockton Sixth Form college. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Twelve of England's regional mayors back plan to create ‘national active travel network'
Twelve of England's regional mayors have signed up to an unprecedented plan to create a 'national active travel network', focusing initially on helping children to walk, cycle or scoot to school safely. The scheme, which involves all non-London regional mayors other than one from Reform UK, is intended to fit into wider efforts to devolve transport planning, working with Active Travel England (ATE) to implement schemes they think would help their area. It has the backing of Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, who said the scheme has the potential to 'significantly improve' public health in the areas involved, covering 20 million people overall. The 12 mayors, nine of them Labour and two Conservative, plus Luke Campbell, the Reform UK mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, have signed a joint pledge to 'work together to improve our streets for everyone, for the benefit of the health, wellbeing and connectedness of our communities'. The initial focus from this autumn will be on trips to and from school, with a pledge to create a combined 3,500 miles of routes safely linking schools to homes, town and city centres, and transport hubs. It will be based around interventions such as safer road crossings and blocking motor traffic outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times. The involvement of the two Conservative mayors, Ben Houchen of Tees Valley and Paul Bristow, who represents Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, underlines that the debate has moved on from the culture war-infused period under Rishi Sunak, whose government pushed back against safer walking and cycling in favour of a 'plan for drivers'. Campbell was the last mayor to sign up. His Reform colleague Andrea Jenkyns, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, is the only mayor not involved outside London, which already has hundreds of so-called school streets and similar projects. Chris Boardman, the former Olympic cyclist who heads ATE, said the focus on routes to schools followed focus group work which found that people are particularly amenable to messages about walking and cycling when it is about children being able to travel safely and independently. He said countries including Finland had travel cultures in which primary school-age children routinely make their own trips, adding: 'If you start with asking people, do you want that for your kids, you'll have a very, very strong, powerful and politically popular – yes. 'So if there are mayors and leaders who are not standing next to that, then they have to be accountable for their choice. 'I want to see fear of missing out. If we get to a point where x per cent of kids in an area have the freedom to walk or ride to school, I think we'll see parents in neighbouring streets and communities thinking, hang on, why can't we have that?' Whitty said: 'Increasing physical activity has health benefits across the life course. As part of this, we need to make walking and cycling more accessible, and safer, as well as access to green space easier and more equitable. 'This will help remove barriers to improving physical activity levels and could significantly improve the health of England's increasingly urban population.' The 12 mayors to have signed the pledge are: Tracy Brabin (Labour) of West Yorkshire. Paul Bristow (Tory) of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Andy Burnham (Labour) of Greater Manchester. Luke Campbell (Reform UK) of Hull and East Yorkshire. Oliver Coppard (Labour) of South Yorkshire. Helen Godwin (Labour), the West of England mayor. Ben Houchen (Tory) of Tees Valley. Kim McGuinness (Labour), the North East mayor. Richard Parker (Labour) of the West Midlands. Steve Rotheram (Labour), the Liverpool City Region mayor. David Skaith (Labour) of York and North Yorkshire. Claire Ward (Labour), mayor of the East Midlands. Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, signed the pledge in support.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Full fibre broadband added to another 21 locations. Here's where
Openreach has added a further 21 locations to its full-fibre broadband rollout, the company announced. The extension forms part of a plan to connect up to five million more homes and businesses by next March. The new locations cover around 80,000 rural and urban premises across the country, including: The company is reaching an average of 85,000 new premises every week. 'This is a UK infrastructure success story, so it makes sense for us, and the country, to push hard on the accelerator pedal,' Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, said. 'Our new network is helping to drive economic growth, create jobs, and will be the backbone of a prosperous, globally connected and competitive UK. 'Last year was our biggest year of build ever – reaching well over four million homes with this life changing technology.' In April, Openreach warned that around one million people in regions across the UK could be 'left behind' on digital connectivity due to red tape blocking broadband upgrades to flats and apartments. The company said hundreds of thousands of homes across London could be affected, as well as areas such as the Tees Valley, where so-called multi-dwelling units (flats or subdivided houses) risk missing out. Selley said: 'While the majority of homes and businesses in the Tees Valley are going to benefit from our massive investment in transformational broadband technology, tens of thousands of flats are at risk of missing out. 'It's frustrating that we've built our full-fibre network right to the 'front door' of most of these properties, but we can't get inside. 'It's possible that some people will be stuck with slower connections for years whilst their neighbours enjoy ultra-fast, ultra-reliable broadband, which research suggests will boost productivity and prosperity.' Openreach said a change in the law would unlock many of the estimated one million premises in UK flats or subdivided houses where it has built Full Fibre to the door but has not been able to gain access.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Teesside bin lorries to help tackle 'rubbish' mobile signal
Bin wagons are being used to help tackle "rubbish" phone coverage in digital vehicles have been fitted with smartphones to monitor signal strength as they travel on their rounds in Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton.A partnership between five councils in the area, the Tees Valley Combined Authority and digital mapping firm Inakalum, data will be collected from each of the four major mobile results will be used in the development of a mobile coverage checker aimed at helping people understand signal quality in their area as well as identify areas where changes are needed. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said it was time to "go further to tackle digital blackspots that hold back people and businesses"."Whether you're on a farm in East Cleveland or running a business in Darlington, decent signal shouldn't be a luxury - it should be the bare minimum."If we want to build on our potential as a digital powerhouse, we need to make sure everyone is properly connected."Steve Harker, leader of Darlington Council and cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, added: "We're using our bin wagons to sort more than just our rubbish - we're sorting rubbish signal out, too."This will give us hard evidence of problems people who have poor signal know only too well and arm us to go to providers and government to get it sorted."Lisa Evans, leader of Stockton Council, warned "many people still struggle with poor signal and slow data speeds".The project has been funded with the help of £32,490 from the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund and follows similar programmes elsewhere in the country, including Liverpool. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
