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Robin Cooper, the council's director of regeneration and development, said:
"This is one of the largest planning applications Medway Council has ever dealt with. Councillors visited the site and carefully took into consideration all the issues before coming to a decision.

"It is now up to central government to decide whether to give consent for this power station."

Not everyone is so keen at the prospect of a new coal fired power station, among them Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth who are keen for further investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and tidal.

The new power station, if built, will replace an existing coal powered station on the same site.  Currently, the site has 4 485MW units.  The new station will have 2 800MW units, which E.ON claim to be 20% more efficient per unit of electricity than the current station.  With this efficiency comes a reduction in greenhouse gases.

Altough not part of the current application, E.ON are anticipating the installation of CO2 Capture and Storage facilities when the existing power station is closed down.  The location of the Kingsnorth site provides "suitable routes" to the North Sea, the area Carbon Capture and Storage is likely to take place in the future.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a new technology that allows CO2 to be captured and stored deep underground in geological seams.  The empty natural gas chambers in the North Sea should be ideal locations for CO2 storage.  However, the technology is not yet commercially viable.  Energy companies are waiting for further research, legislation and public funding before taking up the technology.

Greenpeace, however, reject claims that the Kingsnorth plant will be "ready" to adopt Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology in the future. "A UN report into its viability predicted it won't be able to play any significant role for decades." Last year, the Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted that the system was "in the foothills" and "may never work".

This power station is just one of seven that are planned for the UK, with many more planned around the world, as energy companies look to meet demand by not relying on natural gas or oil.

Greenpeace has calculated that a new generation of coal-fired power stations will account for half of Britain's permissible carbon emissions in 2050 if Gordon Brown goes for a new 80% target, as expected.

Besides coal, nuclear power stations may also be proposed.  The government has been consulting on nuclear and is expected to back plans to build new nuclear plants.  Although nuclear power produces little CO2, its waste by-product is a cause of concern for environmentalists because it remains radioactive for so long.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:
"Gordon Brown recently promised this country he would lead the fight against climate change. Well very soon we'll know if he meant it. The proposal for a new coal-fired power station that has now landed on his desk represents what could be the defining climate change decision of his premiership."

He added:
"The Government must not be taken in by the myth of clean coal technology. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet, and even the Chancellor admits that so called carbon capture technology may never work. With a decade left before our emissions must peak we just can't take that kind of gamble with the planet, and we certainly can't tell the Chinese and Indians not to build a new generation of coal-fired power stations if we do the same here."