Cooling towers could make way for houses in 2015 (From Oxford Mail)
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Cooling towers could make way for houses in 2015
1:10pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in News By Andrew Ffrench
Didcot A power station’s cooling towers could make way for new homes
HUNDREDS of new homes could be built on the Didcot power station site when part of it is decomissioned, according to the leader of South Oxfordshire District Council.
Ann Ducker has raised the possibility of homes being built once coal-fired Didcot A is decommissioned by 2015.
Mrs Ducker said South and Vale of White Horse council officers and RWE npower bosses have been discussing the possibility.
The proposal was revealed at a meeting of the Didcot Community Forum, held at Didcot Civic Hall earlier this month.
The meeting was hosted by consultants Aecom, hired by the councils after Science Vale UK, which includes Harwell and Milton Park, won Enterprise Zone status last year. Their brief is to talk to people about how they would like to see Didcot developed.
Science Vale UK is one of 10 new Enterprise Zones created by the Government following a successful bid from Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
When the zone was announced last year, it was estimated there could be a £9m-a-year boost to the economy with 8,400 jobs created by 2015.
Oxfordshire LEP is now deciding how to spend £6m of Government infrastructure funding.
Mrs Ducker said: “If you put houses on the power station site it is possible that you could reduce the number of homes being built elsewhere.
“We understand that the site is being considered by RWE npower for housing because it has to try to get the best price it can.
“Potentially we are talking about hundreds of homes, but we want to hear from the public what they would like to see there – it won’t necessarily be housing.”
Didcot A manager Jim Haggan said: “Under current legislation, the power station will have to close by the end of 2015.
“The site remains a significant site for future power generation – however, what that technology could be is still to be determined.
“There are many varied uses for the site post-demolition, but the long-term future developments of the site are not known at this stage.”
Two other key sites council leaders want feedback on are the Didcot Island site – the area in front of Didcot Parkway railway station – and Broadway.
Mrs Ducker added: “The Didcot Island site could be a new gateway into Didcot and it’s the ideal location for a new hotel.
“However, there are three or four different landowners in the area.
“With the arrival of the Orchard shopping centre, there has been a shifting focus away from Broadway and we need to be clear what the future of Broadway will be.”
SODC spokesman Andy Roberts said a public consultation meeting would be staged in the next few weeks at the town’s Cornerstone Arts Centre to discuss issues raised at the forum.
affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk
Comments(18)
EricTheRed
says...
2:07pm Sat 11 Feb 12
sparro
says...
3:50pm Sat 11 Feb 12
EMBOX1
says...
5:38pm Sat 11 Feb 12
I have been suggesting for years that the site be used for housing to relieve pressure on the local villages. You can get more than a few hundred on that site - which has great road access already.
NO decision should be made on more housing in Didcot until this site is taken into consideration. It could solve all the housing problem in one fell swoop!
iklhik
says...
6:15pm Sat 11 Feb 12
They should get rid of the coal station and use the bright minds we have at Harwell to design a cutting-edge nuclear station, reusing the cooling towers, to keep Didcot jobs.
Gunslinger
says...
6:26pm Sat 11 Feb 12
To be honest, some sort of industrial use seems the best bet - possibly, dare I say it, a new power station?
EMBOX1
says...
9:32pm Sat 11 Feb 12
Some of the land is contaminated, but not much, and since houses are built on old rubbish tips (which ring the site) then this is hardly a problem.
Access roads all exist, and the land is worth a mint to nPower, hence their interest to sell.
Didcot B can be kept suitably far away from housing - don't forget the perimeter of the site goes right over to Sutton Courtenay and most of it is unused.
LORD PETE MCVAY. OX2 6EG
says...
2:02am Sun 12 Feb 12
EMBOX1 wrote:The simple answer is to build a Nuclear power station on the site. Cheap and Green power for us, and a boost for Didcot. But knowing the small minded idiots that inhabit our country there would be thousands of "protestors" chaining themselves to anything that doesn't move. What a contrast to the enlightened French villagers who will actually fight each other to win the bid for a Nuclear Power Station to be built next to them. In fact we are so stupid the we pay French companies well over the odds for our electricity, that is backed up by Nuclear Generated when our grid has a shortfall. How the rest of Europe must be laughing all the way to the bank with our hard earned cash.
The cooling towers themselves (build on wooden supports) are at the end of their lives.
Some of the land is contaminated, but not much, and since houses are built on old rubbish tips (which ring the site) then this is hardly a problem.
Access roads all exist, and the land is worth a mint to nPower, hence their interest to sell.
Didcot B can be kept suitably far away from housing - don't forget the perimeter of the site goes right over to Sutton Courtenay and most of it is unused.
saddletramp
says...
9:28am Sun 12 Feb 12
1.you cant build a Nuclear power station on Didcot A,Nuclear power stations use vast amounts of water,water which is not available in Didcot (thats why all our Nukes are by the sea.
2. The land on which Didcot A stands is heavily contaminated with HFO (heavy fuel oil) to clean this up to make it suitable for housing would cost millions,and more importantly would take years.
3.
Didcot B can be kept suitably far away from housing - don't forget the perimeter of the site goes right over to Sutton Courtenay and most of it is unused.
Not true,the nearest part of the site to Sutton Courtney is in fact the "B station" and at the rear of the A station
is the vast WRG rubbish tip,would you like to buy a house next to rubbish,sea gulls by the thousand,flies by the billion and a smell to die for ?
P.S. the rubbish tip is capped daily with ash from Didcot A,when it closes the material to cap it will have to be brought in by road,approx hundreds per week.
4."access roads already exist"
have you actually tried to get onto the link road from the power station roundabout at peak times?
Its a nightmare,so add to this a couple of thousand extra people and you will have gridlock.
This story IMO is just the vote catching,tub thumping usual carp that you get from NIMBY council members who think they have come up with a new idea,and it will look good to the people of Didcot.
A few years ago it was the Harwell campus that was going to get thousands of houses,what next Milton Park?never mind peoples jobs,lets build houses !
Darkforbid
says...
10:55am Sun 12 Feb 12
a Nuclear power station on
the site. Cheap and Green
power for us┄
Yep, but went they go wrong, they go wrong big..
Btw: the French design is rubbish.
omega red
says...
9:00am Mon 13 Feb 12
Ellie the Bruce
says...
1:28pm Mon 13 Feb 12
M Spook
says...
2:24pm Mon 13 Feb 12
Ellie the Bruce wrote:As much as i agree with the above statements I personally feel that Didcot needs more excitment injected to the town.
I live very close to the perimeter road near the site - if you've seen recently how high the landfill site is now compared to a couple of years ago, then I can't see how anyone would want to live that close to that eye sore. I'm looking forward to another summer of a stinky garden and high population of flies in my living room. And as for a nuclear power station - that close to a housing estate? That should never happen. Why can't the land be developed for use as an out of town shopping area in conjunction with the Orchard Centre development work? Or an even more radical idea - just left as it is. Love them or hate them, they are part of our landscape. And I'd rather look at the cooling towers than spend two hours trying to get out of Didcot on the single track link road to the A34, especially in light of the news that Booker are reopening their depot.
They should seriously consider making a theme park there, what a backdrop for the rides and a great way to get the Kids off the streets. This could produce a significant amount of income to the town and would create more opportunities for people.
Also for the Guys who want it listed and kept as an landmark, the coulod be implimented in to the Park and would look fantastic!
Building houses away from the town is okay, but how long will it take to have have to build more??? Come on Guys let your hair down a bit and enjoy yourselves!!!
Megs
says...
3:07pm Mon 13 Feb 12
Original planning permits were issued on the basis that the site must be returned to agriculture, which, given all the developments that have sprung up in the area subsequently, is the best solution. Additionally this will be a small contribution to addressing national food security issues which will worsen during the 21st century.
Unfortunately, for the lovers of the aesthetics of the cooling towers, (I am not one) they are beyond preservation, who could afford to rebuild and maintain them?
Back to nature is best - at least with agriculture, if it is does properly, there will be the possibility of preserving the rare species that, paradoxically, have made their homes in the relatively human-free shelter of the power station.
Diddyman
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10:29am Tue 14 Feb 12
Megs
says...
3:45pm Tue 14 Feb 12
camden
says...
9:23am Thu 16 Feb 12
Adrian1
says...
3:55pm Thu 16 Feb 12
Dilligaf2010 says...
1:20pm Sat 11 Feb 12