Dorman Long tower: Council 'cannot consider heritage' over demolition

The heritage of a defunct steelworks cannot be taken into account when considering its demolition, a council has said.

Plans have been submitted to dismantle the Dorman Long tower in Redcar.

The blast furnace and South Bank coke ovens are also due to be razed to make way for new developments.

Redcar and Cleveland Council said it was only permitted to consider "the method of demolition and the aftercare of the site". 

It added: "The Dorman Long tower is not listed and does not lie in an area of special control, and so it benefits from no protection under the Planning Act." 

As such, the heritage of the site was not a factor "in considering the prior approval application".

The tower was erected in the 1950s to store coal which was fed into the coke ovens which fuelled the blast furnace.

The site finally closed in 2015 when operator SSI went into liquidation.

South Tees Development Corporation, which submitted the plans for the site, denied demolition work had already begun after photographs of the tower showed machinery at its base, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Work was going on "in and around" the tower and other infrastructure had been removed but "nothing structurally has been changed with the tower", a spokesman said.

Two petitions have been set up to oppose its destruction.

Labour councillor Sue Jeffrey said the local plan specifically made reference to Dorman Long tower as a building of "heritage and cultural importance".

The authority should serve a preservation order on the tower to delay demolition long enough for it to submit an application for listed status, she said.

Nick Taylor, from the Dorman Long building preservation group, said he felt the demolition plan "has been kept low key from the general public and not actively publicised".

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