'Disappointment' after council approves British Steel plans for electric arc furnaces in Scunthorpe

Plans for British Steel to build an electric arc furnace at its Scunthorpe headquarters have been approved sparking fears over job losses.

The decision by North Lincolnshire Council to grant planning permission follows approval for a similar facility at the company's site on Teeside.

British Steel says the £1.25 billion investment is its biggest in more than a century and will make the company green and sustainable.

The new electric arc furnace would replace the two existing coke blast furnaces at the Brigg Road site.

British Steel president and CEO Xijun Cao said the company was "extremely pleased" to have got the go ahead for the facility.

He described it as a "significant step forward" towards its net zero targets, suggesting the proposed furnaces would reduce the plant's carbon dioxide emissions by more than 75 per cent.

Preparation work and environmental studies for the project have already started and British Steel said it would be "delivered at the earliest opportunity".

But unions fear the new furnace could lead to the loss of 2,000 jobs.

They wanted the decision deferred to enable them to discuss a long term plan to become more sustainable without such a big impact on employment.

Martin Foster from Unite the Union said: "One of the things that's probably disappointed us more than anything is the fact that all this time has passed since the original announcement in probably last October, and at no point have we had any proper meaningful consultation meetings with the company.

"They've simply not sat down with us. We could have been sitting down with the company and discussing things and progressing things and trying to come up with alternatives that would work and would save jobs and protect jobs, if not all of them, as many as possible.

"This makes that job really, really difficult now."Last week a petition signed by 30,000 people was handed to politicians in Scunthorpe calling for long term support for the industry.

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