PLANS by Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt to meet Celsa, the Spanish company which is buying ASW’s works at Sheerness and Cardiff, have been dashed.

Mr Wyatt had been planning to visit the company’s headquarters at Barcelona this week to talk about its plans for the Sheerness plant.

But yesterday Mr Wyatt said Celsa executives had declined to meet him. Staff at the British Consulate in Barcelona were trying to arrange a meeting between Mr Wyatt and company officials, but have been told by Celsa's management it is not appropriate at present. A meeting may be arranged in the New Year, however.

Mr Wyatt had wanted to discuss Celsa’s intentions after the announcement that the firm wants equipment from the Brielle Way plant, but not the site itself.

He fears that prospective buyers will be deterred from buying the site if they face having to spend six months and large sums of money rebuilding the mill if Celsa move large parts of the plant to Cardiff, as they are expected to do.

Meanwhile, ASWmanagers are still talking to buyers interested in the site. Steel production has ceased at the Sheerness plant. About 90 to 100 staff are still working there, but they are preparing and despatching goods.

Meanwhile, redundant workers attended a careers open day at Sheppey College on Monday organised by the Steel Partnership Training scheme, a subsidary of the Iron and Steels Confederation, which was set up in 1998 with the prime aim of retraining redundant steel workers.