Teesside Cast Products : second report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

The Committee decided to take evidence on the steel industry after Corus' and parent company Tata's decision to mothball Teesside Cast Products at Redcar and Lackenby.

Evidence outlined the serious economic devastation that would occur if the TCP plant were mothballed.

The number of those made unemployed as a consequence will climb above 4,000.

The Committee states that the central priority must be to find a way to return the plant to operation as soon as possible and to maintain the jobs of a highly skilled workforce until what may well be a temporary downturn has been worked through.

The short-sighted decision by Corus to close the rolling mill at Redcar and Lackenby has left it unable to response flexibly to changes in the world steel market in a way that would guarantee continued production on Teesside as indeed they were warned it would.

The proposal of possibly rolling slab produced at Teesside at the mill in Llanwern, South Wales has been put forward and the Committee urges the Government to continue to work with Tata and Corus and the union on both sites to explore fully the potential of this idea.