Data centre plan for Didcot A Power Station site submitted

A plan for a data centre on part of a site used by a former power station has been filed for approval.

RWE submitted the application to Vale of White Horse District Council, for the site which formerly housed the Didcot A coal-fired power station.

The company said it consulted 3,000 residents, stakeholders and businesses.

It said it will benefit from being close to gas and electricity grids, the River Thames for cooling water and the town's rail station.

A data centre is a building or group of buildings which are used to house computer, telecommunications or electronic storage systems.

Didcot A was first opened in 1970 and closed in March 2013. Three of its cooling towers were demolished in July 2014.

Four men were killed after its boiler house collapsed as it was being demolished in February 2016.

Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61, who were both from Rotherham, Michael Collings, 53, from Teesside, and Christopher Huxtable, 34, from Swansea died. A Thames Valley Police investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Another three cooling towers were demolished in August 2019.

RWE said demolition on the 27 hectare (66.7 acre) site was finishing last month. It also owns the natural gas-fired Didcot B Power Station.

It said about a quarter of the cleared site will be used for green spaces.

The council is likely to decide the application in the coming months.

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