In January, Tata Steel announced it was ending primary steelmaking in Port Talbot. The town is known for two huge blast furnaces and its massive steelworks that has provided employment for decades. George McDonagh travelled there to see how people were reacting. He met Gareth Edwards, who had spent 30 years working there and was worried about the thousands of jobs that could be lost.
Tata said it was losing £1m a day at the site and that a change to greener electric arc furnaces, which change scrap metal into new steel, was needed. But in Port Talbot there was fear that this would mean they were destined to follow the fate of other steel towns that have slumped into decline once the furnaces closed.
In early summer, industrial action began and McDonagh returned to the town to talk to union members and workers about their fight to save jobs. He learned about the union’s plan for a slower pace of change. But as the year wore on he returned to hear of the disappointment when that plan was rebuffed, and in autumn the furnaces finally shut. In winter, as a subdued town began to come to terms with its new future, he spoke to Edwards again. Alongside sadness and resignation, he found some stubborn hope – that there was a chance of new, green jobs that could revive the town once more.
