I lived by the side of a coal fired station for twenty years until it closed, the steam belching out of the cooling towers create their own microclimate in the area. Unlike other countries, communal heating systems from these sorts of heat producing industries is rare here. When they have been attempted, they often prove unreliable and are eventually scrapped.
The closest they got here were a substantial array of heat and CO2 fed greenhouses, which fell into disrepair and were eventually abandoned.