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.
They sent everyone a flyer; not realizing that the three cooling towers would be blown down in the dark, I emailed them to ask which three. They did not reply.
What a shame; I was hoping to take some pictures from a walk into Sutton Courtenay.
Heigh ho! I be it’s that wretched elfin Safety….
You would think that destruction of this prominent landmark would require some PR effort to avoid further upsetting the locals (regardless of the bang). The natives are far more likely to be sympathetic if it is not done surreptitiously in the small hours. Fred Dibnah would have had BBC cameras there.
If N-Power, their contractor and Police are concerned about crowd control, the problem has reduced little now the timng is known.
I’m sure the Army Engineers would have loved to do it as a training exercise: “There is no problem that cannot be resolved by the correct use of High Exposives” !
I am pretty sure that the demolition team will be the ones driving this – they set the timetable, and David Buckle will have no say in it! I will be sad to see them go, and will head to my vantage point – light or dark, whatever the time.
The people demolishing the towers are treating it very much as a technical exercise. They seem to have completely failed to understand the impact of these towers on local people in terms of the landscape, a sense of belonging and being “home”. Brutal, ugly architecture, yes, but part of everyone’s lives who actually live here. I imagine the demolition people are not from round ‘ere and dont know how often these things “pop up” when you are driving home or taking in a view on a long walk.
I wonder what happened to Mr Buckle’s request. Did N-Power fail to reply? Or did they decide that local opinion was less important than some other priority they have in mind?
Spike S is right: Fred Dibnah would have seen it as an opportunity to get the cameras in. He would also have made sure that it was safe and a spectacle.
What a chance missed!