Have the Didcot Power Station cooling towers turned from a blot on the landscape into an iconic landmark during their short lifetime of 46 years?

The question arises because NPower submitted a planning application to the Vale of White Horse District Council for permission to demolish them sometime after March 21.

This application is more of a ‘notification’ because NPower doesn’t need approval. Demolition of the towers was a condition of the original planning permission. It simply needs to tell the council about the methods of destruction and the environmental impact assessment and they must have official approval for this.

NPower insists the towers will come down and says work has already started.

Oxford Mail:

The loved - and loathed - cooling towers of Didcot's Power Station

I talked to its spokesperson, Kelly Brown, who confirmed that contractors are on site to plan the demise and some small demolition work has been completed.

According to NPower, destruction is the only and best option. The columns are very thin architecturally and don’t lend themselves to any other structure or use.

Didcot Town Council leader Margaret Davies gave this reaction. “I think everybody has accepted that the cooling towers will come down this year. People have become emotionally attached to the cooling towers so it would be good to know when they are finally going.”

Oxford Mail:

Didcot Town Council leader Margaret Davies

Kelly Brown replied: “We still don’t know an exact date because we have to organise everything with the police, traffic and the National Grid and National Rail. We still need to speak to our stakeholders.”

Well, there are a lot of ‘stakeholders’. Building of the towers started 50 years ago and was completed in 1968 at a cost of £104 million. The power station employed up to 2,400 workers at peak times. What do the ‘stakeholders’ who are workers and locals have to say?

Karen Sharp is adamant. “I love them. My dad worked in the control room from when I was a baby until he took retirement. They are a part of my history.”

Colette Jones says they are a signal. “I used to look for them on the horizon when returning home. My daughter does the same and she is six. We will miss them and wish they could stay. Even though they are not the most attractive things they are part of our life and landscape.”

Chris Harrison is an aeroplane pilot and says: “They are an excellent visual landmark. As a resident of Didcot I know I’m nearly home when I see them. When they are gone I will miss them.”

The theme of ‘coming home’ struck a resonant chord with Lee Compton. “I’m an Oxford boy living in Cardiff and the towers to me are the sign that I’m nearly home. I will miss that.”

And dancer Rasha Nour feels that if the towers come down “it will make waiting for connections at Didcot Parkway Station even more boring”.

These landmarks aren’t just a part of Didcot in the south of the county. They affect most areas of Oxfordshire. When I come back from London on the M40 through ‘the cut’ in the Chilterns and Oxfordshire sprawls out in front of me, the cooling towers are ‘familiar faces’ in the distance.

Stacey Reed pointed out: “When I walked the Ridgeway, all 86 miles in six days, nearly the whole walk we could see them.”

One local traveller from the north of Oxfordshire said: “Lovely landmark. You can see them from Chipping Norton school!

“They tell me when I’m near home. Love them. We call them the ‘cloud-makers’.”

Of course not everyone agrees.

Duncan Montgomery, from a neighbouring village, says he can’t wait to see the cooling towers crumble and the whole village is organising a big party to celebrate.

Mikey Edmonds wants them down. “We need to move on. It will be a spectacle to see them go, I agree; but they are part of our history and we should let them go,” he said.

But exactly where do we go from here? Do they really have to come down?

Or could the original planning conditions be changed in the light of public debate?

After all there are precedents to preserve parts of our industrial heritage, with the Bliss Tweed Mill smoke stacks in Chipping Norton and the magnificent chimneys of the Chelsea power station. As Sandra Richards says: “I always view the towers as Oxfordshire’s version of Pink Floyd’s Animals album cover.”

Oxford Mail:

Bliss Tweed Mill, Chipping Norton

Maybe Charley Newman gets to the heart of the debate: “I have grown up with these towers on my doorstep. Every day I see them.

“When they are gone Didcot will be just another town, nothing special. People say ‘Oh, Didcot? The Towers Didcot?’ Now it’s just going to be ‘Oh, Didcot’.

“I’ll be completely lost and I’m gutted that my son will have no memory of Didcot ever having big towers.”