FAWLEY Power Station chimney is a landmark visible from much of southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

It is a sentinel structure, guarding the entrance to Southampton Water.

Lesser chimneys have been preserved up and down the country – Shoreham for example, not to mention Battersea in London and Tate Modern – so why not Fawley?

I agree that the boiler house, transformer house and turbine halls have to go, but this magnificent 600ft edifice has an unrivalled location and can stand as a monument to our recent industrial past.

Most people now cannot imagine life before its existence and what is going to replace it, but another jumbled collection of formless housing blocks.

The power station’s presence actually preserved the lower end of Southampton Water from development during its lifetime and created a unique canvas for its towering silhouette to occupy.

We need to preserve iconic structures like this and this is surely one, more than any other industrial structure in this area.

Industrial heritage is now seen as an important part of our historic culture. Somebody needs to tell our councillors to wake up – In 100 years this will be like the Sway Tower of our age, the 20th century rather than the 19th.

Are we not glad our predecessors did not demolish Peterson’s Folly as “just an eyesore”? That is what is proposed.

Do not throw away this opportunity. Save the chimney

Andrew King

Warsash