e-on shut up or act..

Last year sculptor Antony Gormley, the creator of the Angel of the North, stepped in to the controversy over the future of the towers saying it would be an act of "cultural vandalism" to knock them down. One could not agree more.

So e-on are going to build a new BIO-MASS power station on the site and have pledged £500,000 towards a new piece of artwork to replace the "unique" towers. September 11th some are saying inside job, here we have one and those doing the "cultural vandalism" are more than happy in what they're doing.

I would like to ask e-on to also donate four wind turbines to power a pump that will deal with the excess water due to Meadowhall being built, the water being pumped onto Blackburn Meadows returning them back to their former use as a flood plain.

Also, that e-on and the owners of Meadowhall (British Land) donate a sum of monies to clear the rubbish and debris in the River Don, a car still remains under the viaduct. This was talked about in The Sheffield Telegraph letters page over 2 weeks ago and much of the rubbish and debris are from the recent floods.

Since the 1970's (when Salt and Pepper closed) the various owners of these cooling towers and her land around them have failed to do anything with Salt and Pepper themselves, along with said land around them. However Mother Earth has turned this area into a strange bucolic urban landscape and now what has eased some of the pollution over the next 5 years will slowly be ripped up and built upon.

Why should it be just the privilege of those in Nether Edege to live on Tree lined Cherry Blossom Streets?

There have been various efforts over the years to plant Cherry Blossom trees around Tinsley turning the streets near J34 of the M1 into tree lined ones, this in turn helps ease the pollution plus also adds more bio-diversity to the area. Of course these efforts have failed, rumour has it a shopping center in the area refused to give a donation towards the cost when the place opened in 1991.

The widening of The M1 and the continued building plans for the future of this area are only going to add more to the problems of this community. You can not simply build your way out of congestion, neither can you do the same with lack of social housing, we have to look towards alternatives as a solution to both.

But of course we could save The Cooling Towers, place some Wind Turbines to power a Water Pump, clean up the River Don and the Canal (laying decent paths to open up for bikes and people), extend the Supertram (allowing bikes) to Rotherham with a stop at Magna and one at Blackburn Nature Reserve. And to landscape The Meadows. I could continue but i guess you get where one is coming from.

London has Heathrow and the Third Runway, we have e-on and their crass plans with little regard for the community around Salt and Pepper and the wider Sheffield Community. Would it be not better if e-on gave a damn instead of short term gain.

I know, it all sounds a little utopian to ask those who are about to commit another act of "cultural vandalism" on the history and culture of Sheffield, however one day we might understand that 70 years is a long time and no doubt will have played a part in where we are in Sheffield. Is it too much to hope the likes of e-on will begin to start understanding this?

Like David Cameron, i have naive dreams of real Anarchy on the streets not his idea of Anarchy, I also dream the Cooling Towers will stay. However one is a realist, so I'll ask for an open conversation with e-on and British Land who own much of the land around the towers to sit down and talk about the needs of the people living there and not look just towards their own profit and gain at the cost to this already blighted community.

Current images and further thoughts to be found, as always, at pretentiousartist.com

I feel the need to hug some trees