Shropshire Star

Star comment: Looking positively at change

Go to the Ironbridge Gorge and you'll not find a dry eye, with hordes of people on the streets turning towards Ironbridge Power Station and waving tear-stained handkerchiefs in a sad goodbye to the much-loved and now unplugged electrical giant.

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While we might be exaggerating a little bit, there will be genuine sadness among some folk that this huge structure which most of them have known all their lives will be disappearing from the landscape. For the news has come through that

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This is going to be a highly visible demolition site, providing a spectacle which will be seen for miles, and will inevitably take a while to complete.

Shropshire has already lost the jobs that the power station provided, and while it may seem grotesque to look at the razing of the structure to the ground in terms of benefits, presumably the county can now look forward to some jobs being created as a result of the destruction process.

There are going to be serious issues to address. Most importantly, it has to be done safely. And there is going to be much debris to get rid of – it would make sense to do this by rail.

Then when the power station is finally levelled there is going to be a massive brownfield site.

Thoughts are already turning to what, if anything, should go there. A range of exciting possibilities open up. As the power station is connected by rail, an expansion of heritage steam railways into the Ironbridge Gorge is something that is being looked at. The complex lies in a pleasant valley, nestling by the woodlands of Benthall Edge, and with the River Severn meandering past. What about having a country park there, or creating a nature reserve?

More prosaic uses would be to build at least some housing, or continue an industrial theme by creating an industrial or business park.

Whatever does go there will need to be sympathetic with the wishes of the local community, who will have to live with it, as they have lived with the power station for nigh on 50 years.

Generally, they got along just fine with the power station, and will want to get along just fine with whatever comes next.

So bright, imaginative, ideas are wanted – yes, the power station site is now looking for somebody to have a light-bulb moment.

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