CLEAR-UP work is set to resume at Didcot Power Station within two weeks, with workers already on site preparing for the task.

A team tasked with clearing the debris following last year's collapse has finally moved onto the site, and is set to start removing the remaining rubble by the end of the month.

The Didcot Herald reported last month that power station owners RWE had awarded the clean-up contract to Brown and Mason, which took over from Coleman and Company a year ago.

RWE confirmed on Tuesday that the new contractors had started preparation work at Didcot A Power Station, 15 months after the building's boiler house collapsed and killed four men.

Spokeswoman Kelly Nye said: "They have started setting up the offices, delivering equipment, and moving some scrap.

"The main works are to start at the end of the month, which means removing the remaining debris pile following the explosive demolition last year."

After the collapse of half of the boiler house in February 2016, in which demolition workers Mick Collings, Ken Cresswell, John Shaw and Chris Huxtable were killed, the remaining half of the structure was blown up in a controlled explosion in July.

Brown and Mason is also expected to complete the demolition of the power station's chimney and north cooling towers, but that work is not expected to take place until summer next year.

The new Mayor of Didcot, Jackie Billington, said the resumption of work marked 'definite progress' as the dust continued to settle on the disaster.

But she noted that the collapse and the deaths of the four men remain in the thoughts of people who live in the town.

She said: "It is still very much at in people's minds. It will take a long time for it to go away because of the nature of how it happened – it was very sad.

"The power station was always a major part of Didcot and it will always be on our minds. It has been [more than] a year since it happened, but it is still very raw.

"Let's just hope measures are in place to prevent further tragedy."

Brown and Mason have decades of experience in the demolition industry, but the clearance will not come without its challenges.

Last April Thames Valley Police, which is still investigating the cause of the tragedy, estimated there were 20,000 tonnes of rubble on-site after the disaster struck.

Officers said the pile of debris at that point was about 40m high, although it is not clear how much exactly is left for Brown and Mason to clear.