By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
Calls to save some of Nottinghamshire’s ‘concrete cathedral’ cooling towers have been backed by TV writer James Graham.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar – the UK’s last coal-fired power station – went offline for the last time yesterday (September 30), bringing 142 years of UK coal power to an end.
A petition has now been launched to preserve some of the cooling towers as a monument to the country’s industrial past.
From more than 240 towers in the 1960s, there are now only 45 left standing, many of them in Nottinghamshire.
Cottam Power Station’s cooling towers are due to be demolished by 2025; West Burton A’s by 2028; and Ratcliffe-on-Soar’s by 2030.
Ratcliffe’s eight towers, which were built between 1963 and 1967, stand 114 metres tall and can be seen for miles across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
James Graham, the writer of Nottinghamshire-set BBC drama Sherwood, urged people on X (formerly Twitter) to join the fight to save them.
“Some might think they’re ugly. I think they’re majestic. Concrete cathedrals,” he said.
“I got to stand inside one, filming Sherwood series two. I’ve never stood anywhere like it on earth.
“I’d love future generations to stand in them too. But they are inexplicably all going – all of them…”
He suggested Ratcliffe-on-Soar could be home to a national museum to the Industrial Revolution, “welcoming travellers to the birth of the modern world.”
Around 400 people have since signed an online petition calling for at least one cooling tower to be saved, celebrating the history and culture.
It’s planned that the power plant will be decommissioned over the next two years, after which it is expected to be demolished.
Operator Uniper hopes to turn the site into a green energy hub under a Local Development Order which was passed last year.
The Twentieth Century Society, which fights to save industrial heritage, has called for the Ratcliffe towers to listed.
Most towers have a status which prevents this from happening, although Ratcliffe doesn’t at this time.
Campaigns Director Oli Marshall said: “Surely it could be possible to retain some of the towers and integrate them into the new plans for the site? Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.
“Just like mill chimneys, smock windmills and gasholders before them, cooling towers are now passing into history. Redundant relics of our industrial heritage, that have gradually become part of the Nottinghamshire landscape.
“As the carbon age is ending and the sustainable age begins, it’s important we retain some of our past, to remember where we’ve come from and point the way to our future.”
