TWO former steelworkers are facing the prospect of life on the dole after their business premises were sold from under their feet to make way for a major shopping expansion.

Charlie Stephenson and George Jenkins, who set up their firms on the site of the former Consett steelworks when it closed 20 years ago, yesterday spoke of their anger at the way the sale had been handled.

Mr Jenkins, who runs a garage, set up with his redundancy payment, said the land had been sold by the Derwentside Industrial Development Agency (DIDA) to developers Hermiston Securities without any consultation.

He said: "DIDA, which had taken over the land, came to us in March and told us they would be selling it and our leases would not be renewed. That was the first we knew about it.

"We were told we had better look for other premises and they offered us units at Berry Edge - but they are wholly unsuitable.

"We were not consulted about this.

"Unless someone comes up with the premises there will be six people on the dole - including four workers employed by Mr Stephenson and me."

DIDA chief executive Eddie Hutchinson said Mr Stephenson and Mr Jenkins had been informed at the earliest opportunity of the developments.

He said: "We were approached last year by Hermiston, who said they would like to expand their retail outlet significantly and bring new jobs to the town.

"Our piece of land is relatively small and we took the difficult decision to sell it in the wider interests of Consett."

Mr Hutchinson said the alternative workshop units offered to the two businesses were at Berry Edge, which was not far from where they were currently located.

He added the units were also near the town centre, were covered by closed-circuit television and were "extremely well managed".

Derwentside council granted permission in June for the building of retail units behind Safeway and Focus DIY.