Kepier power station
| Kepier power station | |
|---|---|
 The proposed site in December 2009 | |
 | |
| Country | England |
| Location | Kepier, County Durham |
| Coordinates | 54°47′10″N 1°33′43″W / 54.786°N 1.562°W |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Construction cost | £3,500,000 (planned) |
| Owner(s) | North Eastern Electric Supply Company |
| Thermal power station | |
| Primary fuel | Coal |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 150 MW |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Kepier power station was a cancelled
Background
After several years of preliminary planning, surveying sites and drawing up plans, the
The estimated build time for the station was around four years, and once completed the station was expected to employ around 300 people.[1] In June 1944, NESCo formally submitted their plans for consent of construction.[3]
Design
The station's site plans and elevations were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott.[2][4] He had previously designed Battersea Power Station in London, and so the designs of the Kepier station were considered to have been of a very high architectural quality. NESCo claimed that the design of the station would be considered "a credit to the whole district".[2] The main station building was to be 135 feet (41 m) in height.[3]
The station would have burned between 1,500 and 2,000 tonnes of
The coal burnt would have had an estimated ash content of between 14% and 22%, and so at a cost of £160,000, the company were to install
Between 350 and 450 tonnes of
The station would have featured six 170 feet (52 m) high cooling towers.[3] It was said that there would be provision to prevent excessive amounts of steam leaving the cooling towers, with no haze coming from the towers on 95% of days of the year.[1]
Criticism and support
When the plans were first announced the county surveyor raised no objections, and it was not until October 1943 and onwards that the Ministry of Town and Country Planning began to increasingly warn of the opposition that was bound to arise against the scheme.[3]
The plans were strongly opposed by
NESCo argued that they thought the power station would enhance the city's attractions, with people coming to see the power station itself. At the least, they tried to assure the public that if built, the station would take as little away from the city as possible. An official statement from the company stated:
"Consultants of every kind will be employed in connection with the construction, and the City Corporation can rest assured that every precaution will be taken both in the design and the working of the station to cause as little harm as possible to the amenities of the City."[1]
NESCo also argued that they had chosen the site to protect the city's amenities, in that it was outside the city boundary, partially surrounded by higher ground, and in the lee of prevailing winds. They also said that much could be done architecturally to fit the station into its surroundings.[3]
Local trade unions,
At a meeting of Durham County Council on 26 July 1944, J.W. Foster, chairman of the Finance Committee of the council, spoke in favour of the proposals, claiming they would fulfill the Government's
Foster also claimed that if any other feasible site could be found, then it should be used to avoid any violation of the view. However, he warned that the interest of the county's economy should be put in front of the concerns of "those ill-informed critics, who view Durham from the railway ... passing from one more fortunate district to another."[2] Durham MP Charles Grey later referred to the development as "vital to the well being of the County of Durham".[7]
British architect
Although geographically located 1 mile (1.6 km) north east and 100 feet (30 m) lower, it was thought that Kepier power station would dominate any view into which it entered and that it would enter into most of the views in the city. A
"As the traveller by train approaches Kepier and Durham from the North there would meet his eye in the foreground this vast power station. Kepier, a local beauty spot, and the picturesque remains of Kepier Hospital, a building of much historic interest, would be blotted out, the Castle and Cathedral beyond would be dwarfed by an incongruous mass of concrete buildings ill sorting with the landscape."[8]
Inquiry
After the suggestion by the head of the Ministry of War Transport Cyril Hurcomb to conduct a joint local hearing chaired by an outsider was turned down by the Government due to much greater means being needed, the Government agreed that a public inquiry should be opened.[1][3] A public inquiry into the plans was opened in December 1944, with the hearing lasting for three days.[3] The Ministry of Town and Country Planning appointed Hurcomb as the chairman of the inquiry. The Electricity Commissioners appointed George Pepler and C.G. Morley New. The key opponents of the scheme were the City of Durham Preservation Society, chaired by Cyril Alington.[2]
NESCo were represented by Craig Henderson and Sydney Turner. The NESCo representatives argued that although the company already supplied around 85% of the North East region, a great deal more generating capacity would need to be built to meet the demand for years to come, and that the mid-Durham area was the best place to erect a new station. Henderson claimed the only real opposition to the scheme was that it would interfere with the amenities of Durham. John Hacking, chief engineer of the Central Electricity Board, backed NESCo because if the scheme were declined, and consent and new arrangements had to be made, they would have no new plant in operation until after 1948.[2]
A 11.8 kilograms (26 lb) Plasticine model of the station, city and surroundings was used in the inquiry. It was accompanied by a certificate of essentiality, issued by the Electricity Commissioners. Photographs of the city were also shown with the power station superimposed.[3]
During the hearing, Hurcomb pointed out a letter published in The Times in July 1944, in which the Bishop and Dean of Durham, and Warden of the Durham Colleges, had given the misleading impression that the proposed station would ruin views from the railway line, an idea compounded by the publication a few days later of a photograph taken from the proposed site. He acknowledged that a number of views from parts of the river would be ruined, and that the station would be visible from the Cathedral and church, Hurcomb emphasised that the majority of the beautiful views around the city would remain. Pepler also found that from the railway station, the power station and the Cathedral could not be viewed simultaneously. The members of the inquiry initially concluded that the station should be given the go-ahead, based on the grounds that a more suitable site could not be decided upon.[3]
The City of Durham Preservation Society, however, argued that with so many of Europe's finest monuments being destroyed in the Second World War, Durham and its cathedral was a gem which had survived both the war and the "industrial despoliation which had laid waste to so much of the rest of the County". Pepler supported the view that Durham was more suited as an administrative, shopping, and tourist centre, than it was for large-scale industrial development.[3]
Legal and political difficulties caused a long delay in reaching a decision. An important issue was whether or not the inquiry was subject to the new Town and Country Planning Act of 1944. NESCo from the beginning challenged the right of the Minister of Town and Planning, W. S. Morrison, to convene an inquiry at all. The initial legal advice to the Government was that it was not subject, and the inquiry was convened with terms of reference that they were to consider whether a proposed new or extended station could supply sufficient electricity to meet the needs of consumers at no greater cost than any alternative source of supply. In Hurcomb's view the inquiry could not refuse consent if these conditions were met. A later decision by the Treasury Solicitor that the inquiry was, in fact, subject to the Act had the effect of paralysing decision making.[3]
If Hurcomb persisted in adhering to his terms of reference and approved the power station, but Durham Rural District Council then withheld planning consent on the grounds of the objections, NESCo would be entitled to compensation for their losses due to the delay and building on a new site. The District Council would be liable for this but it was out of the question that they would be able to afford the large amount involved and the Government wished to avoid stepping in to pay themselves. If the inquiry could be persuaded to find against NESCo then no compensation would be payable and Hurcomb came under pressure from Ministers to do just that. Hurcomb argued that this would be denying compensation to those entitled to it and by April 1945 the decision on the station was still being delayed. The chairman of NESCo at the time voiced his anger in The Times, and Frank Tribe, secretary of the
Eventually, Hurcomb put forward at a ministerial meeting a solution whereby the members of the inquiry would inform NESCo that on purely technical grounds they would have approved the scheme, but due to the opposition of Morrison, they had decided not to proceed to a decision. Although NESCo were initially hostile, in June 1945 they agreed to drop the scheme on condition that they received a letter from Morrison agreeing that they had satisfied the commissioners on technical grounds, thus entitling them to compensation. The Government thought the site was open to well founded objections, and even if the scheme had proceeded past the inquiry stage, they would have refused consent anyway.[3]
Outcome
Ultimately, the decision of the inquiry went against NESCo and those in support of the station, and the company dropped their plans. NESCo received an ex gratia payment of £6,650 from the Ministry of Town and Country Planning for the expenditure incurred to that point. The site itself was inherited by the nationalised British Electricity Authority in 1948 and they eventually sold it.[10] On 9 October 1945, Minister of Town and Country Planning Lewis Silkin made clear in the House of Commons that NESCo had begun extending their existing power stations by installing additional generating plant at sites other than Kepier, sufficing the demand for electricity, and meaning no station was needed at Kepier.[7][11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Some notes on the proposed power station at Kepier, Durham". The Durham University Journal. 36–37. Durham: Durham University: 6–7. 1944. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Adams, D. B. (1944). "Power Station Controversy". The Electrical Journal. 133: 63, 93, 522. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-854673-4. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ "Catalogue Details". Durham: Durham County Council. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Simpson, David (21 May 2008). "So Sharp when it came to planning". Darlington: The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ "Bulletin: Number 59" (PDF). City of Durham Trust. October 2005. p. 3. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ a b "Power Station, Durham". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 9 October 1945. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-471-27940-4. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ "Windfarms top list of UK eyesores" (STM). BBC News. London: BBC. 13 November 2003. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ "Views on the News". The Electrical Review. 159 (1–9): 109. 1956. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ "Petrol (Stocks and Rationing)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 16 October 1945. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
