Sir – Having lived in Didcot in the early 1960s when plans for Didcot Power Station were being discussed, I find it remarkable how gullible we, the residents of South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse, were.

First we were told that the chimney (650ft) and the cooling towers would have little visual impact on the landscape. We were told that trees would be planted in strategic positions and the site would be hardly visible in Oxfordshire and Berkshire generally.

We were told that the power station could not possibly affect the local climate. No local rain or snowstorms? No enormous black clouds? We were told not to worry about the 400 tons of sulphuric acid that would be formed daily in the atmosphere as it would not reach ground level until it had crossed the North Sea. When the acid rain started to destroy trees in Norway and Sweden and acidification of the Scandinavian lakes was having a devastating effect on fish stocks, that statement was quietly forgotten.

Then we had Raymond Baxter on BBC TV’s Tomorrow’s World  telling us how waste heat from the power station would provide free district heating for the residents of Didcot. Similarly, horticulturists in the area would receive free heating for greenhouses and a whole new industry would be spawned based on growing tropical fruits. Baxter even held-up an orange with the word Didcot stamped on it! 

We were told the power station would be fuelled by British coal and have a positive influence on the trade gap. In practice of course, much of the coal was imported.

Next time ‘big business’ comes along and tells us how we should welcome with open arms a wind farm, or a solar farm, or something similar, I hope we shall not be nearly so gullible.

Dr John Sandalls, Wantage