News / Legals costs mount as PD Ports wins legal fight over Tees access

PD Ports' Teesport. Photograph: Stuart Boulton.

British taxpayers could be facing a bill of more than £4m ($5m) in legal costs after the High Court ruled that publicly funded Teesside regeneration body South Tees Development (STDC) had sought to hold PD Ports to “ransom” over access rights.

Justice Eason Rajah, who has described STDC’s three-year legal battle to block PD Ports’ access to the 2,500-acre former steelworks it was regenerating as “simply wrong”, yesterday said “the defendant is clearly the successful party” and ordered STDC to immediately pay £1.2m in costs.

PD Ports group property director Michael McConnell said: “The court has affirmed that we were forced into unnecessary court action, which was not of our choosing.

“The judgment underlines that the decision by STDC to press ahead with legal action – despite the weight of evidence in PD Ports’ favour and our repeated offers of a flexible solution to entirely accommodate their development needs – was entirely unnecessary.”

While the decision requires STDC to pay the port operator £1.2m, the final cost could become significantly higher, with STDC having already spent £3.1m pursuing the claim, lodged in 2021 with Teeswork, a joint-venture to develop the former steelworks and in which STDC holds a 10% stake, seeking to force PD to hand over 90% of dues received for cargo handled by tenants of the Teeswork site.

PD Ports’ barrister, Andrew Walker, argued that the move was intended to force a distressed sale, and was a “clear example of holding the defendant to ransom” after its failure to force the sale.

PD Ports proposed dropping one of its claims to a key access route, but this was rejected in favour of a six-week trial that began in October, a decision Judge Rajah said had led to “significant [legal] costs”.

“That STDC, a public body with responsibility for the economic regeneration of Teesside, would choose to persist with legal action, backed by Teesworks, against PD Ports is disappointing and frustrating,” added Mr McConnell.

“We hope this now draws a line under this matter. We will continue to take a positive approach, supporting and encouraging the delivery of high-quality jobs and inward investment to our region.”