Weardale 'still suffering' 15 years after Blue Circle closure

15 years after the closure of the Blue Circle Cement plant in Weardale, County Durham, with the loss of 150 jobs, people living close say the impact is still being felt.

Scores of families had to move away to find work. The schools have lost half of their pupils and there are fears for their future.

Millions of pounds of public money has been spent on alternative plans for the site, but it still stands empty.

All that remains of the cement works is an extremely large slab of concrete. For forty years it was the biggest employer in this part of County Durham.

At its height 800 worked here and almost every family in the area known as Upper Weardale had someone who was employed at the plant. It shut on August 9, 2002 - some locals say the dale has never recovered.

Craig English is a maintenance engineer who has to work away. When he left school he'd have loved to have worked at Blue Circle. Instead, he works in places like South America, Norway and the Middle and Far East. Now he worries for his children's future. They make up 10% of the local school. And last year there were fears it would close.

When the cement works closed 57 families moved away and with them 70 pupils.

There are 5 primary schools in the area and between them they've lost half of their pupils since.

Judith Bainbridge is Chair of Governors at Frosterley School where a quarter of the pupils will leave next July to go to senior school. The headteacher is shared with another school.

When the French owned plant shut in 2002, a task force was set up. Grandiose schemes were planned.

Among the ideas for the site was a Mr. Bean theme park - about the error strewn comedy character created by Rowan Atkinson. Some locals think all the plans for the site were a bit of a joke.

It was suggested the cement workers could retrain as beekeepers. Millions of pounds of public and private money was spent.

The flagship project was for an eco village. 65 homes, a hotel, business units and a terminus for the Weardale Railway. It was all to be powered by hot rocks thousands of feet below ground. A bore hole was dug, but it all came to nothing..

Two years ago. the works quarry was used for the ITV drama Beowulf. It was transformed into an Anglo Saxon village. But the Dark Ages epic lasted just one series.

There's some concern among the locals about the loss of services. They say there's one grocery shop in the 15 miles between Stanhope and the Cumbrian border. In 2002, there were 3 in just one of the eight villages.

They say when houses are sold they usually become holiday homes. And that creates further pressure on the future of upper Weardale.