TODAY marks the second anniversary of the end of Ebbw Vale's 200-year-old steel making industry.

Two years on from that traumatic day there is mixed news about the prospects for the rejuvenation of the area.

Just 20 of the 800 workers who lost their jobs at Ebbw Vale are still out of work and while many have moved from the area, some as far afield as Holland, future job prospects in the area look challenging.

But the transformation of the 200-acre steelworks site which once dominated the landscape of the town is moving forwards all the time and is now the largest regeneration project of its kind in the UK.

From 2005 a post-16 learning campus, a primary school, provision for a community hospital, the railway line to Cardiff and Newport, housing, business units and landscaping will begin to spring up on the ground currently being cleared.

Blaenau Gwent Council leader John Hopkins says he is impressed at the pace of progress despite complications with the site clearance.

Councillor Hopkins said: "Every stage has been one step ahead. The master plan was drawn up ahead of the start of demolition, and the redesigning of the site has started before all the buildings are down."

Richard Crook, head of business services and community regeneration at the council, said: "The site is set to become a vibrant new urban quarter that works alongside the town centre, adding value and raising aspirations."

However, others say that more training opportunities are needed to create the highly skilled future workforce that will attract decent jobs.

Former steelworks union secretary Dai Davies believes an apparent lack of action to attract new jobs to the area has created a "time bomb" that could devastate the local economy.

Mr Davies, who now works for the Steel Partnership, said: "So far the community has not been devastated by the closure but I think that could change. Unless we do something to improve the skills base and attract high quality jobs I think it's a time bomb waiting to go off.

"There are these developments going on but without the skilled local workers to take the jobs the benefits to the area are limited."

Mr Davies points to the dramatic cuts to Coleg Gwent's engineering and catering departments at the Ebbw Vale campus as evidence of future skills shortage.