The demolition work, by Star reader Martin James

Work at Shropshire’s former sugar beet factory was today delayed after problems with a huge machine brought in to help demolish three 165ft high silos.

A hydraulic pipe on the machine, which has been cutting away at the concrete silos at the British Sugar plant in Allscott, near Wellington, snapped yesterday afternoon.

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Repairs were being carried out this morning to the Triple Seven machine, with site staff hopeful of restarting work later.

Mark Jones, site manager, said: “We have a few problems with the machine. We didn’t get as far as we anticipated. We have been slowed down a couple of days.

“We have still got one silo complete, another one about halfway down and another one three-quarters.

“A hydraulic pipe snapped because the concrete on the old silos is substantially thicker than new silos, so it is taking longer than we anticipated.”

Work began on demolishing the last remaining landmarks of the site a week ago. Two of the silos used to each contain 10,000 tonnes of sugar and the third 17,000 tonnes. 

A 32-week programme of work to bulldoze the plant and revamp the site began in September. 

There are no plans yet on what is to be done with the 350-acre site. The closure of the plant in February 2007 led to the loss of 110 jobs. The work to demolish the three large silos, which had initially been delayed by the windy weather, is expected to last about another two weeks.

A large chimney attached to the boiler house has already been knocked down and warehouses are also being demolished.

By Lisa Rowley