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| Time ticks by for Tinsley towers | Time ticks by for Tinsley towers |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The cooling towers at Tinsley viaduct in South Yorkshire have only hours remaining before they are demolished in the early hours of Sunday. | The cooling towers at Tinsley viaduct in South Yorkshire have only hours remaining before they are demolished in the early hours of Sunday. |
| The towering sentinels have stood at the gateway to Sheffield for decades and been a familiar sight to millions of motorists on the M1 motorway. | The towering sentinels have stood at the gateway to Sheffield for decades and been a familiar sight to millions of motorists on the M1 motorway. |
| But at 0300 BST on Sunday the so-called "salt and pepper pots" will be demolished in a controlled blast. | But at 0300 BST on Sunday the so-called "salt and pepper pots" will be demolished in a controlled blast. |
| The M1 will be closed from midnight on Saturday between junctions 32 and 35. | The M1 will be closed from midnight on Saturday between junctions 32 and 35. |
| The towers stand only feet away from the twin-deck Tinsley viaduct which carries the motorway on the top deck and the A631 on its lower deck. | The towers stand only feet away from the twin-deck Tinsley viaduct which carries the motorway on the top deck and the A631 on its lower deck. |
| Despite campaigns to save the 250ft (76m) towers, which are the only remnants of the Blackburn Meadows power station, energy firm E.ON which owns the towers has said they are unsafe and have to come down. | Despite campaigns to save the 250ft (76m) towers, which are the only remnants of the Blackburn Meadows power station, energy firm E.ON which owns the towers has said they are unsafe and have to come down. |
| Nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct Arthur Ashburner, Highways Agency The firm has been given permission to build a £60m biomass power station at the site. | |
| A viewing area is available at the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre car park for anyone wanting to watch the 70-year-old towers come down. | A viewing area is available at the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre car park for anyone wanting to watch the 70-year-old towers come down. |
| Arthur Ashburner, from the Highways Agency, said: "This demolition is a unique situation and as far as we are aware, nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct. | Arthur Ashburner, from the Highways Agency, said: "This demolition is a unique situation and as far as we are aware, nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct. |
| "Our priority is for the safety of road users and, given the close proximity of the towers to the southbound carriageway of the M1, these closures are essential. | "Our priority is for the safety of road users and, given the close proximity of the towers to the southbound carriageway of the M1, these closures are essential. |
| "Once the demolition has taken place, we will carry out a series of checks to ensure that there has been no damage to the viaduct, which in itself may take several hours. | "Once the demolition has taken place, we will carry out a series of checks to ensure that there has been no damage to the viaduct, which in itself may take several hours. |
| "We will reopen the road only when we are entirely satisfied that it is safe to do so." | |
| Emily Highmore, from E.ON, said preserving the towers would have been very expensive as they had been deteriorating. | |
| She said the responsible decision was to bring the towers down. | |
| "They would require a very, very significant investment and fundamentally speaking we are an energy company and our job is to keep people's lights on. | |
| "We also have a responsibility to keep people's bills as affordable as we can, you know, we simply need to be making investments into doing that." |