Shut down steel towns share ideas

[bioe...@gmail.com]

LESSONS learned from steel plant closures across Britain will be
discussed at a meeting today in Workington.

SteelAction, an organisation of 18 local authorities in the UK's
steel areas, will meet with councillors, development and regeneration
agencies and trade unionists at the Oval, Salterbeck, to talk about how
the last town hit by steel plant closures, Ebbw Vale in South Wales, is
turning itself around after the withdrawal of Corus.

Peter Slater, SteelAction co-ordinator, said: "It is our hope that we
can bring practical support and lots of ideas. The closure of the Corus
plant in Ebbw Vale in 2001 provides a particularly good example of how
effective partnership working can achieve good results.

"We hope we can bring further value to the work which is already
underway to address the plant closure in Workington and its
implications for the local community and the surrounding economy."