Public money was spent on cleaning up the industrial waste from it being on a colliery site, normal practice for old industrial areas, otherwise would never get redeveloped. What is happening now in Redcar with the old steel works. Ben Houchen usually on Look Newcastle with his hard hat on. However, Hall said the club should pay as they were using the land to build what was to become the Sol. Think he was also on some committee to allocate money for Millennium projects, the Gateshead Eye bridge got money but nothing for Wearside but will stand corrected. The bloke was an arse, the whole family thought they were Geordie royalty.
He didn't block a bridge as such, he stopped any money being allocated, is how I remember it.