Demolition of Richborough Towers gets go ahead

A major landmark on the east Kent coastline is set to disappear, after Thanet District Council’s Planning Committee gave the go-ahead to demolish the cooling towers at Richborough.

The proposals that were considered by the committee last night (Wednesday 18 January) are to demolish the three cooling towers and chimney at the redundant Richborough power station, which closed in 1996.

The application is accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment, which looks at the impact of the demolition on the environment. It considers issues such as ecology, air quality and dust, noise and vibration and how the waste from the demolition will be removed from the site.

The 97 metre high cooling towers are within Thanet’s boundary, while the site entrance is in Dover’s boundary. As a result, the planning application was submitted to both authorities, with Dover focusing on issues to do with the access.

The committee approved the demolition work with a number of conditions. These include having to carry out an assessment of the wildlife on site and restrictions on when the demolition can take place.   After hearing from a representative of UK Power Network, who are responsible for providing electricity to Thanet residents, members also added two extra conditions which sought to reduce the risk to Thanet’s electricity supply.

Cllr. Jack Cohen, Chairman of the Planning Committee, said: “The Richborough cooling towers and chimney are perhaps some of the best known landmarks on the skyline of this part of Kent. We know from the comments that the council received that people do care about them and some of the objections talked about preserving them, describing them as “iconic”. We understand those feelings and that is an emotive subject for some, but we have to listen to experts on this subject. English Heritage made no objection to this application and the power station isn’t a designated heritage site. Our own officer looked at this issue in his report to the committee and made the point that the towers and chimney were a fairly recent addition to the area’s skyline.”