3 January 2008Tom Pugh
Plans have been backed to build Britain's first coal-fired power station in more than 20 years.
Energy giant E.on UK sought permission last night from Medway Council to replace existing coal-fired units at Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent.
E.on UK says the £1 billion investment to build two new cleaner coal units would produce power from coal more efficiently and more cleanly than ever before in the UK.
The units would produce enough energy to supply about 1.5 million homes and lead to a cut in carbon emissions of almost two million tons a year, E.on UK says.
However, more than 9,000 people have objected to the plans.
Activists staged a protest at the plant last year by climbing a 200m-high smokestack and chaining themselves to the station's conveyor belt to prevent it burning coal.
Greenpeace says the units would create a highly carbon-intensive and inefficient form of energy generation and would go against Government policy on climate change and energy sources.
Medway Council only holds an advisory role and the final decision will be made by the Government as the authority does not hold the power to grant or reject planning permission.
Diane Chambers, chairman of Medway Council's development control committee which met last night, said today that local opposition to the plans was limited, with interested parties such as the RSPB and the Environment Agency raising no objection.
Mrs Chambers said: "We raised no objection to the plan and the matter will now go to the Secretary of State.
"The power station will not comply with current European directives therefore its life will come to an end so Eon. UK have put forward this application.
"The local opposition could be counted on the fingers of one hand but clearly there is a wider issue which we hope will go to a public inquiry."
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's MEP for South East England, said the move was a "massive step backwards".
She said on BBC Radio Kent: "This is enormously significant as it's going to be the first UK coal-fired power station in almost 30 years.
"Coming so soon after the Bali climate change summit where everyone was talking about the importance of climate change, to come up with this decision in favour of a coal-fired power station is a massive step backwards.
"Ultimately it's utterly unnecessary, there are other ways of generating energy that could have shown a way forward in terms of tackling climate change.
"It's not difficult to be slightly more efficient than the old power station that it is replacing, so let's not get it into our heads that that makes it more efficient.
"It really is not the kind of power station that we need for the 21st century.
"The position of Medway Council was as an advisory role but this could have been an opportunity for a Tory-dominated council to challenge our Government's love affair with coal and fossil fuels."
http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article3304332.ece
