The 3 southern cooling towers of Didcot ‘A’ Power Station will get blown down between 3-5am tomorrow morning. I’ll try to show these views again tomorrow mornings, or as close as, to show the difference.
1. From a field just outside Drayton
2. From the Entrance to the old Didcot ‘A’ Power Station.
3. From Milton Road, Didcot
4. From the new nature area on the reclaimed landfill near Peep-o-day Lane.
5. From Margaret Brown Gardens.
This evening at the Long Furlong Community Centre, in Abingdon, about 120 local residents went to hear about the Vale of White Horse (VWHDC) Draft Local Plan.
Councillor Sandy Lovatt was there to explain the plan, and to take questions from concerned residents.
The draft plan involves building 610 extra houses (with possibly 900 cars) in fields between the peripheral road and the A34 in North Abingdon. This is because more houses are needed across the VWHDC to meet house building targets.
The video above shows the fields that are affected.
The main concern for residents was the extra traffic, and need for better infrastructure. One resident said it was very difficult getting out of their estate roads onto the peripheral road at peak times. It was a serious accident waiting to happen.
Another resident said that Abingdon had a very poor record in council led traffic changes and asked that any changes to the peripheral road be the subject of an independent traffic study.
Another resident said that the recent changes to the Wootton Road roundabout had made things worse. It had become a new bottleneck.
Approval of the plan will be in 2014 and adoption in 2015. 400 of the 610 houses could be built between 2015-2019, and 200 from 2020-2031. The consultation period for the housing plan is already over and 2,700 replies have been received by VWHDC. As a result some alterations could be made. Then the plan will go back to Councillors for approval. So there is a last chance to write to your County Councillor (for North Abingdon that is sandy.lovatt@oxfordshire.gov.uk) to influence that decision. Later on, residents can petition for the right infrastructure to be put in place when developers submit plans.
The detached house next the shops on Wootton Road, the one with the white shiplap boarding, has just been demolished. I liked that house but am told it had structural problems and was beyond saving.
There is planning consent for it to be replaced with 3 x one bedroom and 5 x two bedroom apartments.
On Northcourt Road, next to the entrance to Fitzharrys School, another detached house, described on the planning application as “of no great merit, and could not justify retention” is being replaced by 4 x one bedroom and 3 x two bedroom flats. That development is further advanced.
The redevelopment of Mayott House, an old people’s home, on Ock Street, is also advancing. Foundations are laid. Some first floor walls are up.
There will be 4 apartments to purchase, prices from £102,500, and 36 apartments to rent.
In this quick roundup of the new housing, being built in Abingdon, there is room for the elderly, and some smaller apartments, but not that much for young families.
David Buckle, Chief Executive of the Vale of White Horse District Council, has written to RWE npower expressing his disappointment that the blow down of the three southern towers of Didcot Power Station is planned for between 3-5am on Sunday 27th July.
Given that Sun Rise is 5:17, the three cooling towers could explode unseen.
Mr Buckle has asked whether the time could be adjusted to 6am to give local families the chance to watch this once in a lifetime event.