The giant steel plant at Redcar has dominated the industrial landscape on Teesside for decades. I last went round the site on a school Geography Field Trip in the spring of 2006 and, although it felt a bit like being landed back in the 1970s, there was no denying the scale of the operations and the commitment to quality in producing high-value precision steel.

This BBC article focuses on the economic and social consequences if the Redcar plant closes - it is excellent for students wanting to understanding a little more about structural unemployment and also the negative multiplier effects that come from heavy job losses in a local area. The danger is that the loss of jobs may be permanent and that the region will suffer from an irreversible loss of skills.

The article states that “So as well as the 2,000 Corus jobs at risk, there’s a supply chain equivalent to maybe 10,000 people spread around the region.”

More here