Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in its final days: Photos show my unique view of the soon-to-be-gone plant

Joni Mitchell said you “don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”. Well, for the best part of a decade I’ve had a unique view of the soon-to-be-gone power plant out at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, from my own flat, writes Benedict Cooper.

And while its pending departure isn’t a surprise, after all these years of looking out and seeing that plant working hard to keep the lights and the heating on, mile-high columns of steam billowing out of its grand looming towers, I probably have taken the striking sight for granted.

Not that I haven’t been totally awe-inspired at times, as this gallery of photos I’ve taken shows. Over the years I’ve been stopped, with a gasp, by some magnificent skies over to the west - some crystal clear blue, others a vivid patchwork of reds and pinks as the sun slips over the horizon.

Read more: Exact date iconic Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham will close later this month

The view is somehow, minutely, different each time. There’s the calm, steamless stillness on a hot summer’s day, when the plant and its huge funnels seem to be taking a lazy rest under a perfect hazy blue sky. 

There’s the breathtaking sight of the plant at full steam in the dead of winter, when the towers churn out enough power to warm the city, sending thick clouds of vapour blasting out into the sky.

The most dazzling displays are always in the late dusk, especially in the winter. The plant’s backdrop in the western sky becomes a rich, refulgent canopy of shadowy clouds and deep colours - gold, peach, magenta, indigo, maroon, and pale blues fading to black.

Even at night, in the blackness, I can see the outlines of the dark towers, and the lights around it twinkling away.  

Just beyond the towers, a little further out west, I can see East Midlands airport. From my window I watch the jets above arc and loop on their final descent, bound for the runway, their journeys from distant lands complete. They pass behind the towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar as they come into land.

I’ll have to get used to not seeing those magnificent clouds of steam soon. The towers will remain - with an uncertain future - but by the end of the month the plant will no longer be the power of the city. And the billowing steam columns, the thick, white clouds that marked a true powerhouse of the city will be gone from the skyline for good.