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Corus closure could see area flourish

May 10 2009 by Paul Loraine, Sunday Sun

The Corus steel plant in Redcar, Teesside

THE proposed closure of the Corus steel plant on Teesside could be the catalyst for the area to “flourish”, according to a consultant in the industry.

The controversial view was expressed last night by Dr Mark Lee, who has worked with Corus and a number of the world’s top steel firms.

He believes that while the loss of jobs will cause “intense pain in the short term”, closure of the plant could lead to an economic rebirth for Teesside.

Dr Lee, who lives in Middlesbrough, said: “It has been conclusively proved that the presence of steelworks in a region leads to dramatically higher levels of cancer and respiratory diseases such as asthma than the national average.

“The steel industry do, of course, deny this, but it’s rather like the tobacco companies in the 1960s and 1970s telling us that there was no link between smoking and cancer.

“The presence of a steel plant in a region gives it a very negative image.

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