Residents protest at power plan

Plans for a second new power station in the Newark area are causing concern for nearby residents.

People living on a development within a few hundred yards of High Marnham Power Station have started a petition against plans to redevelop it.

Mrs Jean Sinclair, of Sparrow Lane Park, said she and her neighbours were shocked to discover proposals for a new gas-fired power station within six years.

E.on is applying for consent for the station, which would be on a similar scale to Staythorpe Power Station, where construction work has started.

“We are all pretty distressed. It would just be a nightmare,” Mrs Sinclair said.

Mrs Sinclair, who has lived at Sparrow Lane Park for two years, said they were led to believe by E.on that there would be no redevelopment.

Her neighbour, Mrs Carol Wild, said: “I wouldn’t have come here if I knew they intended to build another power station.

“We have put everything into this house, thinking we can leave it to our children. It is not going to be worth anything now.”

Mrs Wild was concerned about potential health implications, the amount of dust from the site, and loss of the view from their homes.

There are six occupied homes on Sparrow Lane Park.

The site owner, Mr John Calladine, of Tuxford, said there was room for 23 but said they would now have difficulty in filling the rest.

He said he previously knew nothing of the plans to redevelop the power station.

The residents have contacted the MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, who said: “It is outrageous that the residents have been sold or leased their properties under false pretences.

“I shall be taking this on on behalf of the residents and I will certainly take a petition forward for them.”

Like Staythorpe’s new power station, the proposed High Marnham station would use high-efficiency combined cycle gas turbines to produce electricity. It would supply more than 2m homes, including those in the Newark area.

The power station would have up to three turbines, each with an output of up to 533 megawatts.

E.on has submitted proposals to statutory consultees, including Nottinghamshire County Council. A formal application is due to be submitted early next year.

If the application is accepted, construction would begin in 2014 with the site commissioned from 2018 onwards.

As part of its application, E.on will look at the impact on the environment, including air and water quality, flood risks, ecology and noise.

E.on says the station would be significantly smaller than the old coal-fired power station. The chimneys for each turbine would be between 80 and 100 metres high.

The company says the plume from the chimney stacks would rarely be seen and would consist mainly of water vapour.

The old High Marnham Power Station was built and commissioned between 1955 and 1962 and consisted of five 200 megawatt coal-fired units. It was shut in 2003.

The site is derelict, although the foundations of the former station are in place below ground and five of its 94m-high cooling towers remain. These would be demolished.

E.on says it will assess how many people will be required to build and operate the new power station, but indicates that local labour will be used for both the construction and operation of the site.

They are looking at using the River Trent to transport large-scale construction pieces to the site.

An E.on spokesman, Miss Emily Highmore, said: “We have always said we didn’t know what we were going to do [with the site].

“We think it’s an excellent site with all the infrastructure there for a new power station.

“If residents had phoned the company we would never have said we weren’t going to do anything. We were always looking at our options.”

Miss Highmore said they had spoken to parish councils and would be holding public exhibitions to get feedback.