Vera Baird

More about Redcar

My constituency of Redcar includes the seaside resort of Redcar and the hinterland between Middlesbrough to the south and Hartlepool and Stockton to the north. It is predominantly urban with the ICI Chemical Plant at Wilton, British Steel at Redcar and the oil terminal at the Tees and Hartlepool port being the major employers. The constituency has almost twice the UK average unemployment.

The constituency is a predominantly an urban area but includes the beautiful Eston Hills, including Eston Nab, that give some marvelous views of the constituency. The constituency's western boundary is the River Tees. Normally there is a chain of massive ships anchored off shore, until the pilot cutter can come to guide them through the narrow channel into Teesmouth, the second busiest port in the United Kingdom.

The Tees has a proud history of shipbuilding and repair but in April 2001 Cammell Laird went into receivership. The next day, 110 workers at the South Bank yard were made redundant. The yard, which used to be called Smith's dock, is a byword in the north-east for the highest skills and craftsmanship.

The main employers are the ICI chemical complex at Wilton and the Corus

Steel works near South Bank. The ICI chemical complex manufactures petrochemicals, polymers and fibre intermediaries. It is one of three complexes on Teesside that, together, form the United Kingdom's largest cluster of chemical manufacturers. Currently, they directly employ 11,000 people; indirectly they employ 25,000 more; and they contribute an annual cash turnover that sustains many more thousands of jobs.

The seaside town of Redcar lies a mile from the estuary and has miles of golden sand and bracing walks are its principal attractions. Until 1872, the beach was used for horse racing; then they built our famous Redcar race course. It is in the middle of the town, and race days fill the streets with a carnival atmosphere.

Four miles away is Marske, an ancient fishing village, now a pleasant residential area. Inland lies the leafy Domesday book village of Kirkleatham, with its newly renovated Sir William Turner almshouses. Inland, is Dormanstown, built in 1917 as a garden city for the steelworkers of Dorman Long. It is green and it is spacious, but again now suffers like Grangetown and South Bank from inner-urban deprivation. In the west there Eston, at the foot of the Eston hills, where the iron ore that gave Teesside that industry was found. The first blast furnace was built in 1851, after which the area produced one third of the country's output, with South Bank and Grangetown two of its proud industrial producers.