Scores of environmental groups call for government to abandon support for UK’s largest gas power plant

'Allowing the development of a gas power station of this scale risks locking the UK into a high carbon future totally incompatible with our international obligations'

Drax wants to modify two of the coal-fired generating units at its power station near the town of Selby into a gas-powered plant (AFP/Getty)

Plans to build Britain's largest gas plant have been denounced as inconsistent with international climate goals by a group of 73 environmental groups including the Green Party and Friends of the Earth.

In an open letter they have urged the government not to support the project.

Addressing the Planning Inspectorate and energy secretary Greg Clark, they warned that the increased demand for gas would incentivise fracking, which is opposed by many.

Energy company Drax has submitted a planning application to replace its coal burning plants near Selby in North Yorkshire with gas-powered alternatives.

It is seeking government subsidies to support the project. Wednesday marked the final day of a public consultation about the plans.

The government has announced that coal burning will come to an end in 2025, but the signatories say the construction of “even bigger” gas infrastructure is counterproductive if it is serious about meeting the targets set by the Paris climate agreement.

“Climate change is already here and its effects are devastating lives the world over,” said Oliver Hayes, climate change campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “Allowing the development of a gas power station of this scale risks locking the UK into a high carbon future totally incompatible with our international obligations.”

Drax, which is currently the UK’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter, has admitted its plans will “represent a significant net increase in greenhouse gas emissions and have therefore negative climate impacts”.

However, it offered the reassurance that the efficient technologies employed at the new station will offset other, dirtier power sources.

A spokesperson from the company said: “Drax’s highly efficient Gas Repower project will help deliver the government’s commitment to remove coal from the UK grid and meet our climate change obligations while keeping costs low for UK consumers. The project utilises our existing infrastructure, and what could be one of the world’s largest batteries, to provide capacity, stability and essential grid services.”

For the project to go ahead, it will need planning consent and government money in addition to the subsidies Drax already receives for burning wood.

Repurposing the coal units to burn gas instead would mean the infrastructure remained in use into the 2030s.

Instead of providing support for new gas projects, the campaigners say the government should support renewable energy sources such as wind, tidal and solar power.

Among the letter's signatories were several local anti-fracking groups, who opposed the project on the grounds that “greater reliance on gas would require either increased Russian imports or dependence on unconventional gas, especially fracking and horizontal drilling”.

The recent decision by the government to bypass local authorities when giving the go ahead to new fracking operations has faced huge opposition, including from within the Conservative party.

Two fracking companies have recently been granted permission to search for shale gas in Lancashire and Derbyshire, despite local opposition.

“If these plans go ahead, they could result in greater pressure to approve fracking applications across the north of England in order to provide feedstock for Drax,” said Leigh Coghill from the Frack Free Ryedale activist group. "Fracking has no social licence in the UK, and will result in the industrialisation of our countryside, as well as driving further climate change. We therefore strongly oppose this planning application and ask that it be refused.”

A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing planning application, but said the government is “absolutely committed to tackling climate change”.