2025

A message from the Tees Valley Mayor

After years of putting the building blocks in place to improve the lives of people across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, we’re now seeing our efforts to bring investment to the region really begin to pay off.

In 2025, we made huge headway in our plans to transform our transport network, with our station redevelopments at Middlesbrough complete, and continuing at pace at Darlington and Eaglescliffe stations. We launched new electric buses and used cutting-edge technology to cut journey times on our roads. Programmes such as the Youth Guarantee Trailblazer have helped hundreds of young people get meaningful work experience, with further investment to improve skills and training being rolled out.
Our local firms have benefited from millions of pounds to help them grow, with our airport companies also undergoing massive expansion, creating even more good-quality engineering jobs.

2025 has been a year of fantastic local events such as Mela, Tour of Britain, S&DR 200th anniversary and more bringing more money into our town centres.

It’s been another year of solid progress right across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, but we know there’s still more to do.

Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and let’s look forward to a great 2026.

Ben Houchen
Tees Valley Mayor