Star comment: End of era or sign of new dawn?

The silos on Bushbury Lane were a city landmark, and for years were used as containers for processing the compound that went in to marking the tyres at the Goodyear factory.

This newspaper has chronicled the sad demise of Goodyear in our city. The closure of its last remaining plant in June will be a terrible day, most especially for the workers, many of whom were based at the site for decades.

Seeing the twin silos vanishing from the Wolverhampton skyline is a sign of the times. Their disappearance, coupled with the removal of the famous Goodyear chimney, can be viewed as representative of the changing nature of employment in our area.

Many people will be disappointed that they will no longer be able to see the silos appearing over the bridge on Bushbury Lane.

But putting nostalgia to one side for a moment, in some ways we can look to the future with a degree of optimism.

Up and down the country towns and cities used to be heavily reliant on certain major companies to drive their local economies.

The likes of Goodyear and British Leyland would be responsible for employing huge numbers of people.

But times have changed and so has the way we work. In any given area people are now employed in a myriad of different professions.

Small and medium sized enterprises have sprung up, often as replacements for bigger and more traditional companies. Of course, in the Black Country and Staffordshire we are lucky enough to have several huge, multi-national businesses based here.

There is a variety of different industries catering for the ever changing workforce. So while we mourn the removal of the silos, it is important we remember that this is all part of a long term cycle of development.

As a region we have fallen behind the rest of the country in terms of skills and economic prosperity. But there are genuine reasons to believe that the West Midlands could be at the forefront of a new technological industrial revolution.

For that to happen we need the very best training opportunities, particularly for our young people, and a range of employment options that cater for everyone. It is sad to say farewell to the relics of the past, but we should look to the future in a positive light.