Almost from the outset, the Kingsnorth Power Station was creating environmental controversy.

This had nothing to do with pollution.

The Central Electricity Generating Board upset – quite literally as it happened – all the sailing clubs along the Medway with its plans to build a jetty reaching two thirds of the way across the River.

This was needed, they said, to berth the colliers carrying coal from County Durham, needed to feed the new plant.

Yacht clubs up and down the river screamed that this would ruin their sport. Vessels would only have a narrow channel through which to pass, creating all kinds of hazards.

To make their point, they strung buoys along the 2,000 ft length of the proposed new jetty and asked all yachts on the River that weekend to navigate through the remaining gap. No fewer than 20 capsized.

The clubs said that had this happened after the jetty was built, most of the boats would have been dashed against it and smashed.

Presumably the sailors won their case, since the jetty doesn’t exist.

There was all round rejoicing, however, when the CEGB announced, in February 1963, that work was about to begin on the £40 million power station on the Hoo Peninsular.

At the end of January that year, unemployment in the Medway Towns was running at 2,800. Work was desperately needed.

The Towns had just come through their worst winter in living memory. Freezing snow lay on the ground for weeks. Construction projects had come a complete standstill, along with the traffic. And 90 per cent of those unemployed were in some way connected to the construction industry.

Here was a project that promised several hundred jobs almost immediately. It was welcomed with open arms.