Thatcher laid waste to industry on Teesside. Now Dorries want to destroy the industrial heritage
The Dorman Long tower at the former steel works at Redcar on Teesside was built to store coal in the 1950s. It is a fine example of brutalist industrial architecture. So much so that it has been Grade 11 listed by Historic England.
Unsurprisingly the Tory Mayor covering the area Ben Houchen would prefer to have no reminders of Thatcherite destruction of jobs and industry left on Teesside. He has lobbied for the tower to be destroyed.
In one of her first acts as Culture Minister Nadine Dorries has ignored the Historic England listing and ordered the tower to be blown up. It is an act of Tory industrial vandalism.
I lived on Teesside in the 1970s and 1980s including the 1980 steel strike, in which I had a supporting role. The destruction by Thatcher of people’s livelihoods and lives has left a dreadful legacy and as Dorries diktat shows the Tories are proud of that legacy.
Given that the previous Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden went to great lengths to make sure that no bit of existing British history was in anyway moved let alone destroyed presumably Ms Dorries will now raise no objection to a few old statues being taken down as well.
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