It was claimed that the departure of the man, who has been widely criticized over the mothballing of the Corus Teesside Cast Products, may increase the likelihood of the facility being sold.

Mr Kirby Adams CEO of Corus parent company TATA Steel Europe is to step down in October to return to his native Australia after 18 months in the position. Mr Adams has been under increasing fire since announcing the mothballing of the Redcar steel plant in December, accused of failing to engage with the 1,700 strong workforce and being criticized for his conduct during talks.

TATA Steel insisted that Mr Adams has always had its full support over the handling of TCP, widely seen as a public relations disaster for Corus, and said that criticism of Mr Adams is ill founded and unfair.

But other parties involved in the ongoing fight to save TCP said that they hoped the departure of Mr Adams, who will be replaced by Dr Karl Ulrich Kohler, will help efforts to secure a sale.

Mr Tom Blenkinsop, formerly a steel industry organizer with the Community union and now MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said that "It has long been my view that Mr Adams has caused problems with negotiations with potential buyers and not helped promote a rapid and smooth sale and transfer of the Redcar site. I am hoping this helps the likelihood of a sale. We need to pull out all the stops and put pressure on central Government and all interested parties to make this happen."

(Sourced from www.thenorthernecho.co.uk)