A THREATENED steelworks could soon be fully operational again if its former managing director is given approval to proceed with a proposal he has put to the administrators.

Bill Cooper was in charge at Weardale Steel at Wolsingham for seven years, but was made redundant when the company collapsed after being taken over by Eastwood Industries only weeks previously.

The company was put into the hands of administrators Poppleton and Appleby of Sheffield, with whom Mr Cooper hopes to negotiate a survival plan. Proposals for a management-led employees' takeover - involving those who lost their jobs as well as those still employed - have been drawn up by union leaders and Mr Cooper.

"We have not put a real bid on the table yet," Mr Cooper told the D&S Times, but he spoke of the involvement of Robert Oakeshott, called in by Durham Business Link to help prepare a business plan.

"There is no question that Mr Oakeshott has set up a lot of employee-led companies and I believe it is the way forward. He has pledged to help us find finance to set up the deal."

Mr Cooper has asked the administrators for an office to be made available at the Weardale site to finalise the business plan as quickly as possible. "If we get access to the site we could put the business plan together within seven-ten days, and be in a position to make an offer for the company within an additional ten days," he added. "We are now waiting for the approval of the administrators to proceed."

Meanwhile, a meeting of the task group, set up to facilitate employment in the dale in the wake of the Blue Circle cement works closure at nearby Eastgate, was due take place yesterday, with Weardale Steel high on the agenda