James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » The hulking Corus steelmaking plant that has lit up Redcar's skyline for decades is now casting a huge shadow over the local landscape.
A symbol of Tees Valley's working class graft and manufacturing excellence, it will soon become a poignant reminder of former glories unless there is an eleventh hour rescue act to save it from closure.
The move will lead to 1,700 job losses and countless others in the local supply chain - a bleak yet fitting end to a depressing year of plant closures and redundancies in Tees Valley.
The local process sector, a major contributor to a ã10bn industry powerhouse in the North-east, has born the brunt of a ferocious recession which has seen national GDP fall by a whopping 4.75%.
The Wilton International site has resembled a pack of falling dominos this year, with Artenius, Dow and Croda all announcing plant closures that will inevitably lead to fewer exports of manufactured goods.
Elsewhere, the retail sector has been hit by cash-strapped consumers' reduced spending power, with the demise of the iconic Woolworths in January followed by the departure of book chain Borders, electrical goods store MSV and music retailer Zavvi from Tees Valley high streets.
And don't even mention 2009 to beleaguered pub landlords, who are being hit by a quadrouple whammy of the smoking ban, economic downturn, the controversial beer tie and competition from cheap supermarket booze.
Yet small, but highly significant shafts of light are beginning to pierce the gloom.
The process sector has been boosted by the ã20m expansion of Sedgefield-based PETEC (Printable Electronics Technology Centre), while the Ensus bio-ethanol facility at Wilton and Teesport's half-a-billion pound biomass plant are assets that other regions don't have.
Meanwhile the Allseas project will provide a stage for Tees Valley to demonstrate its high-tech manufacturing capabilities (if it comes to the region).
There is work out there - especially in emerging green technology - and if London, Leeds and Manchester are bidding for it, why not Tees Valley?
Now is not the time for a glass half empty attitude that could quite easily tip the region into a double dip (or 'W'-shaped) recession.
Next year will still be difficult for Tees Valley businesses, but prudent cost control and a can-do attitude should make it a cheerier one than 2009.
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