Corby & Steel A Brief History

Corby & SteelA Brief History Roger Braithwaite Director zero environment Ltd tel: 01926 62 49 66 fax: 01926 62 49 26 roger@zeroenvironment.co.ukwww.zeroenvironment.co.uk East Midlands EP Seminar 8th June 2010 zero

In the beginning: • There were navvies • In 1870 they came to build the railway, and they found …. Large deposits of ironstone zero

First brickworks • Turned out millions of bricks and became a major source of employment • Created lots of large holes • Then the ironstone zero

(Mention Cd) • Had a high phosphorus content – made the raw iron brittle and unsuitable for steel making • Only 28-32% iron • Subsequently – Lloyd said : “ripping good stone under twelve feet thick” • Resulted in a lease for 40 years (to 1920) • Initially stone taken off site zero

First iron making in Corby • 1910 • By 1917 3 blast furnaces • Became Stewarts & Lloyds • By 1930 estimated 500 million tons of ironstone reserves zero

Major expansion • Integrated steel plant – largest in Europe • Leading tube plant • Replaced works at Bilston, Clydesdale and North Lincolnshire “Now and then a great commercial or industrial undertaking takes hold of the mind of the people and becomes a symbol of enterprise, high courage and progress. Corby, in its particular way, typifies the spirit of industrial resurgence” zero

Peak • Most modern ore preparation plant in Europe • Two coke plants • Over 1 million tons iron • BOS – Electric arc = over million tons • Strip mills and rolling mills • Tube plants • Continuous weld • +++++ zero

“If the eventual steel closure had a bright side it was that the pollution also ceased with the steelmaking” “The steel owners were much criticised for building workers’ houses so close to the works” (1945) zero

British Steel • Nationalisation in1967 • Closure announced 1979 • Unemployment – disaster on vast personal scale zero

“Courage & Realism” • No time for time-consuming lethargies of conventional town hall procedures • Decisive action and for fast, gut reaction decision-making • Joint Industrial Development Committee (District, County, Commission for New Towns & BS • 7 chief officers were replaced by 3 zero

“All were young and dynamic men in their 30s” • Council effectively placed executive powers in the hands of their own leadership • “You don’t get intellectual debates concerning high principle. It is very much plain speaking; straight forward argument” zero

Council staff reduced by 20% • “There was, for example, a severe restriction on the number of planning and architectural staff, thus reducing the traditional post-war obsession with pre-planning and over-design which I believe to have been two of the major restrictions on creating commercial confidence and stimulating development” zero

The new era • “To achieve industrial rejuvenation it is essential that a Council must control the essential ingredient, land. An early acquisition of land programme must be implemented to the detriment of other resource priorities ….” • Planning criteria were rapidly reappraised • …. all of it must go – down to the last pile of rubble zero

Corby District Council, one of the smallest in the country, embarks on one of the biggest land reclamation projects in Europe. • 270 hectares, £21,000,000 zero

Environmental Health (March 82) “It is understood that as yet no soil analysis has been carried out on the land recently purchased from BSC. When such samples are taken I would be grateful to know of any such results before soil is re-sited should they contain the following:” List of 28 elements, compounds etc, including any with – “Carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic properties” zero

BSC Report (Nov 1978) • “A survey of tanker services for treatment disposal within Corby works” • Related to effluents and sludges disposed of to “toxic ponds” and other settlement ponds etc (there were lots) zero

A few quotes: • Many effluents can’t be disposed of in this manner due to their very high toxicity • These ponds (toxic ponds only) have a capacity in excess of 20,000,000 gallons • It is feared that many of the effluents are disposed of incorrectly zero

…. • BOS PLANT – slurry tank at gas conditioning plant – high ss, high chlorine, pH 12.8 – volumes unknown • Settling pond near cooling tower – ditto • COLD DRAW TUBE PLANT - Bonderite dripping tray at ‘A’ bay – very high sludge, pH 1.4 • Alkali dripping tray at ‘A’ bay – pH 12.6 • Oxalate tank at ‘D’ bay- pH 1.2 zero

…. • DEENE COKE OVENS – Primary pump house for hot and cold liquor sumps – tar, oil, liquor – very high NH3, phenols etc • Three rich oil tanks and sumps – oil, nathalene, benzole etc • GALAVANISING PLANT – very high ss, high zinc, high NH3, ph 1.4 zero

…. • GLEBE COKE OVENS – Lime sump near mother liquor tank, pH 12.1 • Mother liquor tank – high NH3, high Cl, pH 2.2 • Devil liquor – high NH3, high Cl • Benzole plant sump – sludge, oil, water, benzole • Seepage at the side of lime sump – very high NH3, acidic (pH 1,7), high Cl. NB this liquor is dissolving the walls of the lime sump at a very fast rate. zero

…. • MISCELLANEOUS – Gas condensate catch pots, around 150 to 160 – high NH3, CN and phenol etc, VERY TOXIC. About 4,000 gallons / day • Tar tanks at base of two gas holders – oil-water emulsion, tar, toxic material, VERY TOXIC. About 14,000 gallons / m And so on ………. zero

Corby & Steel A Brief History