Clarification On Cabinet Meeting 28 September

Statement regarding the Tees Valley Cabinet Meeting on Friday 28 September

The Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet met on Friday 28 September 2018. During the meeting a report on the Process, Chemicals and Energy Sector Action Plan was presented to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet unanimously approved the findings of the report which had been prepared in consultation with business leaders in the process, chemicals and energy sector.

The report highlights options and opportunities for the sector, as well as international best practice and application to the Tees Valley. The report comments that the availability of inexpensive indigenously sourced gas in the Gulf Coast region of the US has been the key to its success and, along with the simplification of the tax system, has led to a significant increase in attraction of inward investment of chemical manufacturing.

The action plan includes working in conjunction with industry to identify and utilise energy feedstocks, such as gas, to reduce energy and raw material costs. It also proposes that the Tees Valley develops a wider feedstock base for the chemical industry, specifically including the provision of nationally funded demonstration space/test-bed facilities for new technologies and materials, such as district heating, hydrogen and lithium fuel cells.

While the report was approved, there was no debate in the meeting on the merits of hydraulic fracturing, or any suggestion that it would be investigated in the Tees Valley. The Combined Authority is not a planning authority and is not involved in the approval process for planning applications.

A copy of the report can be viewed here

Through its Industrial Strategy for the Tees Valley, the Combined Authority’s ambition for the region is for it to have a high wage, high value, low carbon and diverse economy, with a focus on innovation.