Transforming the Trent Valley

Rugeley Power Station:

A new riverside park

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust through the Transforming the Trent Valley Partnership scheme are working closely with the developers (ENGIE) of the former power station site to deliver a suite of habitat enhancements to the adjacent riverside park. It is proposed that this area will be accessible to the public and enrich the environment for people and wildlife alike.

The riverside park site is situated in the River Trent floodplain and there is the opportunity to restore some of the naturally found wetland habitats which have largely been lost across the UK over the previous century. We intend to create a wetland haven with a range of habitats that will be accessible via a circular route with paths and boardwalks, with educational information displayed around the site.

Currently we are midway through the project with large areas of the wetland creation complete. There are still some excavations to take place to provide a connection between the river and its floodplain, we also have planned grassland enhancement with floodplain meadow wildlflowers to carry out, and some small-scale woodland planting. We will also create a network of footpaths, boardwalks and information boards throughout the site. We will update our website to keep you informed of our progress with these plans but currently we aim to have the site open to the public by September 2025 in-line with the opening of the new all-through school.

The project funder is ENGIE with additional funding support from the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water and will delivered by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

To find out more about the development of a mixed-use community at Rugeley Power Station visit the Rugeley Power Ltd website.

At 8.32am on 24th January 2021, a controlled collapse demolition using explosives at Rugeley B Power Station brought down the main 183m tall Chimney..

The other structures, including the Cooling Towers are scheduled for demolition at a later date in 2021.

1970s electricity industry manager Granville Camsey takes us on a tour through Rugeley power station to explore how a coal and water is turned into electricity for our homes. Recorded as part of An Oral History of The Electricity Supply Industry in the UK. Video © 2022 CC by The British Library.

Rugeley B Power Station facts and figures

Construction of Rugeley B power station began in 1964
Generated 8,760,000MWh of electricity each year
Burned circa 1.6 million tonnes of coal per year
Produced in excess of 240,000 tonnes of ash per year
Produced 1,100 tonnes of steam per hour with a temperature of 568 °C
All operations ceased on Wednesday 8 June 2016
Decommissioning began in June 2016
The Boiler House was demolished using explosives on 20th August 2020
The main chimney was 183m (600ft) tall and was demolished on 24th January 2021 at 8:32am
The four cooling towers are 114m (380ft) tall. Their demolition will take place in 2021