First MDC outside London to drive regeneration in Tees Valley

A devolution deal in principle that was agreed between the UK Treasury and five Tees Valley councils in October provides for the creation of a combined authority "as soon as possible" and the direct election of a mayor for the authority in 2017.

Under the deal, the mayor is to have the power to create MDCs "to prioritise economic development and housing on under-developed land". The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has since confirmed that "work will start immediately to form the [MDC]".

According to the DCLG statement, the new MDC will help transform the site of the former SSI steelworks in Redcar, which closed in October with the loss of 2,200 jobs. Communities secretary Greg Clark said the MDC would "put … local people who know the area best at the heart of driving regeneration and delivering new businesses and jobs for the community".

Planning expert Jamie Lockerbie of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The decision to create a MDC in the Tees Valley is an implicit endorsement by the government that the first two MDCs, which are both located in London, are a success in terms of delivering their town and country planning objectives."

"Where the power exists to do so, the creation of a MDC provides an entity which is exclusively focused on the delivery of the regeneration," said Lockerbie. "This will hopefully be of assistance to the relevant local authorities who would otherwise have to take the lead on regeneration many of whom are already overburdened with multiple competing priorities, resourcing and funding constraints."