The comeback of coal as an energy source cleared its first hurdle yesterday when a council approved plans for Britain’s first coal-fired power station for 20 years.

Environmental campaigners and the international development lobby have made it clear that they will continue to fight the planned Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent.

The £1 billion investment was recommended by Medway council, but still faces a final decision from the Secretary of State for Business. Opponents of the plant want a public inquiry to address the wider issue of using coal.

“The Government’s public stance will be seen as empty rhetoric if Kingsnorth gets the go-ahead and ushers in a new generation of coal-fired power stations,” a Christian Aid spokesman said. “In the absence of technology to remove CO2 from power station emissions, the Government should place a moratorium on new coal plants.”

E.ON UK, formerly Powergen, wants to replace its existing Kingsnorth power station with a clean coal, carbon-capture system. It could become the prototype for all future clean coal projects in Britain if it wins a carbon-capture design competition.

Approving the plant would be viewed as opening the floodgates to a new generation of coal-fired generators, with seven proposals in the pipe-line. It could take up to two years to receive approval from John Hutton, the Business Secretary, and longer if the Government grants a public inquiry. Mr Hutton could take advantage of legislation going through Parliament, however, to reject calls for an inquiry on the grounds of a national need for a new coal power station.

A spokesman for E.ON said: “It’s going to take 15 years to get nuclear up and running, so in the short term you build gas and, in the medium term, coal.” The new plant 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. More than 9,000 people have objected to the plans.

Greenpeace said yesterday that giving the green light to Kingsnorth would lock Britain into huge carbon emissions for decades and signal the Prime Minister’s surrender on Britain’s long-term climate change targets. Diane Chambers, chairwoman of Medway council’s development control committee, said that opposition to the plan was limited, with the RSPB and the Environment Agency raising no objection.

E.ON’s existing power station will not comply with the 2008 Large Combustion Plant directive so it must close. The company will not retrofit the station with equipment that could remove sulphur and other emissions.

King coal

— One of the earliest references to coal – as a charcoal-like rock – was made by the Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle

— Demand surged during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries

— James Watt’s improvement of the steam engine, patented in 1769, largely fuelled the growth in coal use

— Coal was used to produce gas for gas lights in many cities, called town gas

— The first practical coal-fired electric generating station, developed by Thomas Edison, began operating in New York City in 1882

— Coal was overtaken as the largest source of primary energy by oil in the 1960s

— Coal provided 25 per cent of global primary energy needs in 2005

Source: World Coal Institute

Times Recommends

• Heed the great stabiliser’s words
• How a voice for everyone led to stalemate
• Bakara market becomes a slaughterhouse