'Life without Steel' - an ongoing project

When the Redcar steel plant closed in October 2015, 170 years of iron and steel production on Teesside ended.

The area has been through tough economic times since the early 1970's but the final demise of the steel industry has hit the town hard. David started his working life on the Redcar steel plant and has witnessed the decline of the area over decades. In the heartland of Middlesbrough, well built terraced streets where communities of steel workers once lived, have gradually been demolished, replaced by wasteland or car parks. Many of the remaining houses are now home to new communities of immigrants and refugees. The town centre has few major high-street retailers and has long been an economic ghost town. Despite the underlying problems, there is a new optimism. People have lived with hard times and have learnt to be resilient. Government payments and local authority initiatives have helped soften the blow of the steel closures. Middlesbrough Football Club's promotion to the Premier League went some way to bring much needed prosperity and hope back to the area, but it was short-lived. Investment is now sorely needed...

TBC...