Campaigners say a task force set up by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen which recommended the dismantling of the Redcar blast furnace presided over a “whitewash”.

Former Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd has also expressed his dismay at the outcome, stating the South Tees Development Corporation had backtracked after previously including the furnace in a masterplan for the former Redcar steelworks.

A task force, chaired by Redcar MP Jacob Young, said the iconic structure, which has towered over the Redcar skyline since the late 1970s, should be dismantled and any artefacts appertaining to industrial architecture salvaged for memorials or displays.

Geoff Taylor, chairman of the Save our Steel Heritage group, which wants to retain the core of the furnace and illuminate it at night as a showcase for the area’s long and proud iron and steelmaking history, said: “We feel this has been a whitewash and are extremely disappointed at both the conclusion and how the process has been handled.”

Mr Taylor said a report prepared by the task force had “no substance, no reference to documents used in its preparation and is very lightweight”, adding: “The people of Teesside deserve better than this and we are committed to seeking answers and appropriate scrutiny on their behalf.”

Campaigners continue to challenge a separate report previously commissioned by Mr Houchen into the potential costs of preserving the blast furnace – which helped form the basis of the task force’s findings – as “flawed”.

The report by engineering consultants Primetals said it could cost £35m over ten years, while Mayor Houchen has pointed to accompanying economic analysis which highlighted the potential for more than 800 new jobs to be blocked by a failure to develop the site on which the blast furnace stands.

Mr Houchen said Primetals were a world leader in blast furnace ironmaking and there was no better company to understand the costs involved.

He said: “I am not aware of any other detailed costing produced by an organisation comparable to Primetals – none have been presented to me and none were submitted to the Teesworks Heritage Taskforce as part of their work.”

Mr Houchen added: “As mayor I will not put investment and jobs at risk.

“Communities across Redcar and the wider region want to see the former Redcar steelworks re-born and for it to be home to good quality, well paid jobs once again.”

The Northern Echo:

Save our Steel Heritage said of the quoted costs involved

  •  £5.4m was included for demolition when this would be taken from a separate demolition budget
  •  £6.5m was for stabilising and the creation of walkways, along with safe access for the public when the structure could be viewed from a distance with no public access required
  •  £2.6m was assigned for a visitors centre, which was not included in its proposal and was not needed
  • £6.8m was for project management/consultancy which could be significantly reduced as most of the site surrounding the core of the furnace would be demolished in the group’s proposal and the sums were already budgeted for as part of site reclamation costs.    

Dismissing the criticism of the taskforce findings and the Primetals report, Mr Young said: “Primetals are internationally respected engineering consultants – the same people who built the blast furnace – and I trust their report completely. 

“The accompanying economic analysis has guided our thinking on the blast furnace and the wider issue of the heritage of iron and steelmaking in Teesside.

“In addition, we had more than 200 people respond to our consultation and, of those that mentioned the blast furnace, more than half wanted to see it dismantled.

“The two things combined cannot be ignored and our recommendations are there to help us move forward together, while respecting our legacy and transforming the future of the site.”

Former Middlesbrough Mayor Mr Budd, who is the founding chairman of the Tees Steel Bridging The World group, referred to a masterplan previously published for the former steelworks – now known as Teesworks – which described the blast furnace as an “impressive example of industrial architecture at its best” and said it could be preserved as a major landmark and visitor attraction.

He said: “I have chaired this multi disciplined group since 2015. 

“We prepared a heritage report with lottery funding that the development corporation used in their strategy document. 

“They are now back tracking on the main proposal, saving the blast furnace.”

Both groups said they would continue to pursue answers, using Freedom of Information requests to ask the task force for minutes of their meetings and the documents used in coming to the conclusion to demolish the blast furnace.

Maximo Park frontman Paul Smith has previously spoken out against demolishing the blast furnace, while Middlesbrough-born former chairman of the Arts Council Peter Hewitt said it would be “an act of terrible industrial and cultural vandalism and stand as a deep insult to the thousands of people who worked there”.

However the clock is already ticking with contracts for demolition due to be awarded by April under a ‘demolition framework’.

A programme to demolish so-called primary assets on the Teesworks site, which includes the blast furnace, along with the South Bank Coke Ovens and Redcar power station, is slated to commence in April next year with the majority, if not all, the buildings being taken down within a three year period.