Durham Tees Valley Airport has appointed a Stockton-on-Tees-based accountancy company to carry out the audit of its accounts.
Following a competitive tendering process that was restricted to companies based in the Tees Valley, MHA Tait Walker was selected to carry out the work.
The new contract comes after Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen vowed more local companies would be used at the airport following its return to public ownership.
The appointment of a local company marks a significant change. In the past, local companies were side-lined in favour of London-based accountancy firm, Deloitte, who were responsible for the annual audit.
This is the latest contract to be tendered since Durham Tees Valley Airport returned to public ownership. Last week, Teesside-based Close Protection Security were contracted to provide extra security on the airport site.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “I’m pleased that we’ve been able to appoint a local company to carry out our airport’s annual accounts audit.
“We have so many great companies here in the Tees Valley and there’s no need for a London-based global accounting firm to do the work. It’s our airport and it needs to support local businesses – and it is.
“This latest contract signals our commitment to support local businesses and local jobs. Over the coming months, we’ll be asking even more local companies to bid for work.”
Andrew Moorby, Managing Partner at MHA Tait Walker, added: “Given the high quality of other firms based in the Tees Valley we are delighted to have won this tender process. We intend to work very hard to demonstrate that putting faith in the local business community is the correct policy and the whole of our area will benefit from this..”
Shaun Woods, Airport Manager at DTVA, said: “We look forward to working with MHA Tait Walker and we would like to congratulate them on this appointment.”
