Why Scunthorpe steelworks needs saving

Scunthorpe is an industrial garden town, or so the signs welcoming you to the town say. It’s written beneath the town’s crest, with a blast furnace on top and the town motto: Refulget labores nostros coelum. The heavens reflect our labours.

If, like me, you grew up in Scunthorpe you can easily ignore the steelworks. Visitors might be surprised by the noise or alarmed if the clouds on the east of the town sometimes seem a dusky red but we’re used to it. The steelworks have been there longer than any of us after all. But on your first visit, they are hard to ignore.

Cooling towers are an imposing sight, the sheer size of the works hard to get your head around. When I was younger I remember people always saying not to drive that way in the early afternoon because you’d undoubtedly get stuck in traffic at shift change.