The head of the Government's Environment Agency has condemned plans for a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth.

Lord Smith of Finsbury, who was appointed the agency's chairman in July, outlined his objections in an interview with the Independent newspaper, saying the plans should be scrapped unless clean coal technologies could beput in place to clean up emissions.

The life peer and former Secretary of State for Culture said: "Plans for a new generation of coal-fired electric power stations should be abandoned until the Government is certain they will not pump out harmful gases."

But,this week, a spokesman for the Environment Agency said the agency was "neither for nor against the construction of new coal-fired power stations as compared to other forms of energy generation."

The spokesman added:" We have urged the government in successive Energy Reviews to ensure the full environmental impacts of generation technologies is taken into account.

"We accept that construction of such stations is likely as the Energy White Paper identified coal-fired generation as having an important part to play in providing energy diversity and security of supply."

"The operators at Kingsnorth Power Station have applied to us for an environmental permit. We are currently determining this and reviewing the additional information we requested following the original application. If a permit is granted we would make sure that the site complies with its permit, achieves emissions and operational standards and that they use the best available techniques (BAT) according to European Directives."

"We will be in a position to make a decision on the permit once government policy on carbon capture and s torage has been clarified."

Lord Smith also warned that the Government was not taking the environment seriously in a series of key projects.He said the Environment Agency planned to look into the areas which are most likely to suffer from rising sea levels over a 100-year period.

Lord Smith also pledged to investigate engineering possibilities in a bid "to defend communities where there are significant numbers of properties under threat."

He said: "This is the most difficult issue we are going to face as an agency. We know the sea is eating away at the coast in quite a number of places, primarily, but not totally exclusively, on the east and south coasts."

Meanwhile, international environmental action group, the World Development Movement (WDM),said this week that current models for climate change predict that without serious action to cut emissions the sea-level in Kent could rise by 74cm by 2080, leading to most of the Hoo peninsula and parts of Strood, Rochester and Gillingham being flooded.

If the Government give energy giant E.ON's plans the go ahead this autumn, Kingsnorth would be the first coal - fired power station to be built in the UK for over 30 years. Protesters, such as those who staged a week-long demonstration in Hoo, argue that if Kingsnorth were to get the green light it would open the floodgates for another seven to be built .