The launch process of Middlesbrough's "town guards" fell under a meeting's spotlight. Tees Valley Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen announced the Middlesbrough Development Corporation’s “own police force” in a Radio Tees appearance on Wednesday last week.

An MDC press release announced the service the next day - a move branded by Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke as “premature” as he argued not all details on the scheme had been finalised. At the recent meeting, Mayor Cooke also took issue with what he saw as the town being painted in a "negative" light in the correspondence.

At an MDC meeting on Friday, September 5, under new chair Tony Parkinson - the former chief executive of Middlesbrough Council - the guards scheme was brought up.

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