THE first steps towards the compulsory purchase of the vast industrial wilderness on which steel was once made at Redcar are to be taken today.

The steps are seen as a significant move towards the newly-formed South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) taking control of the 4,500 acre site, although it is hoped that the compulsory purchase powers will not need to be used.

When the Thai firm SSI collapsed in October 2015, ending 170 years of steel-making on Teesside and throwing about 3,000 people out of work, much of the site was claimed by three Thai banks which had loaned SSI money.

The office of the Tees Valley mayor is in negotiations with the banks, with agreement hoped for within weeks, and the issuing of Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) notices to all the landowners today is seen as a “plan B”.

STDC is the first body of its kind, headed by a mayor, outside London and the SSI site is seen as the largest industrial regeneration project in the UK.

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said last night: “We have over 97 global companies wanting to invest on the site, but first we need to secure ownership of the land.

“We are engaged in advanced discussions with the Thai banks, but it would be wrong not to start compulsory purchase proceedings in parallel. This is an important next step in taking back control of the site so we can secure even more private investment.

“Once the land is in local hands, we will get private investors on site as soon as possible.”

Construction of a £650m biomass energy plant is already underway, and the STDC has been tasked with creating 20,000 jobs on the site within the next 25 years.

The mayor stressed that the CPO would not mean STDC taking ownership of any private homes or farms within the site.

The move seems likely to be popular with the Conservative mayor’s political opponents because only yesterday Redcar’s Labour MP Anna Turley wrote to Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Business, calling for compulsory purchase powers to be used.

She said: “Land ownership is a massive barrier which could delay or stop jobs coming back to the site.

“This autumn we will be three years on from the steelworks closure and I want some reassurance from Government that everything in their power is being done to get regeneration moving.”