REDCAR, England – The 180-foot-tall standing, coal bunker that dominated the skyline in dormant steel works in northeastern England has eroded, faded and lost sight to some living nearby. Yet it was such a symbol of the region’s industrial heritage that campaigners fought hard to prevent its destruction.
She never had a chance. The tower was on the way for an economic development project, and last month controlled blasts turned some of the crumbling remains littered with the remains of rust-belted Britain.
The demolition was part of an effort to turn the 4,500-acre site into a “Freeport,” or less tax area, that would manufacture wind turbine blades and focus on clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
However, RedCar is not more than just a city in transition. It is part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s far-reaching plan to spread the good life beyond prosperous south-east England to neglected parts of the country’s central and north – a policy he never defined, but called “leveling up”. .