A UNITED front will be essential if the renaissance of a crumbling former steelworks site is to be realised, it has been claimed.

Anna Turley says only a strong alliance between councils, MPs, businesses, the Government and a new mayor will help breathe new life into SSI UK’s old Redcar base.

The MP was speaking to The Northern Echo ahead of the fifth anniversary, on Easter Sunday, of SSI relighting the ex-Corus blast furnace.

Back in 2012, Wills Waterfield, the son of late union chief Geoff Waterfield, who led efforts to re-open the former Teesside Cast Products plant, carried out a ceremony to officially herald SSI’s arrival.

The day was one of celebration, with officials and workers looking forward to extending Teesside’s 160-year association with steel.

But it didn’t last.

SSI’s ex-base has stood empty since the company’s collapse into liquidation more than 18 months ago.

The closure caused thousands of job losses, both at the company and in the local supply chain.

Argument and counterargument ensued from both sides of the political spectrum but what was clear was that while the Teesside business smashed a succession of production records it crucially never made a profit.

Indeed, in the days immediately before its descent into collapse, bosses spoke candidly to the Echo about their worries, warning the steel sector was stuck in a tailspin as economic woes in China and Russia forced prices dangerously lower.

Drive past the sprawling site today and you’ll see it lying dormant.

There is no smoke from operations billowing into the sky, there is no smell emanating from the coke ovens, with the site standing silent as a Government-backed body oversees safety and security of assets.

Yet there is hope.

Regeneration body Tees Valley Combined Authority has created the South Tees Development Corporation to drive renovation work in the area, including on SSI’s former base, to attract new businesses and investment, and, crucially, create muchneeded jobs.

The organisation has become the first authority outside London to be empowered to create Mayoral Development Corporations, which will be overseen by a newly-elected mayor next month.

Ms Turley, Redcar’s MP who helped lead the fight to save SSI, said the plans were a start.

However, she added only a united front would help deliver meaningful change, revealing emotions over SSI’s disappearance still remain as raw today as they were in 2015.

She said: “When the blast furnace was relit by Wills it was a very proud day for Teesside.

“It was, therefore, heartbreaking that only three years later we were fighting again to save the plant.

“It still makes me so angry.

“We are faced with the challenge of a huge site that needs regenerating so it can start providing decent, skilled jobs again.

“The local development corporation have got to work on a full assessment of the site, but I have been clear the cost of cleaning up the site must be borne by Government, who have left us in this position.

“It can’t just be left decaying for years.

“It is a really important site on the banks of the Tees with great infrastructure and transport links.

“It has huge potential to be a base for a new industrial renaissance in Teesside.

“I am positive that with the right support we can attract new industries to set up here.

“Now, everyone – councils, MPs, business, the Government, and the new mayor – must work together and focus on that.”

During SSI’s travails, Downing Street repeatedly said it wasn’t “in the business of propping up Thai banks”, revealing the fact that lenders in the steelmaker’s homeland were controlling its assets meant the Government couldn’t intervene.

However, a spokesman last night confirmed to the Echo it is backing local decisionmakers ahead of handing over responsibility, providing hope that something could yet materialise from SSI’s ruins.

He added: “The Government has set up an intermediate body to manage the site - currently on behalf of SSI in liquidation, under the control of the Official Receiver - to ensure it remains safe while a mayoral development corporation is in the process of being established.

“The Government has committed funding this body until March next year.”

2015 was supposed to be a watershed year for SSI, a moment when its Teesside balance book went into the positive.

Instead, it will be forever remembered as the time when the firm, crippled by the cost of re-starting the furnace, the impact of cheaper Chinese imports, weaker market prices and expensive business rates and energy costs, disappeared.