The government and energy giant E.ON have today faced fresh criticism from environmentalists after leaked documents revealed the energy company is pushing ahead with plans to finalise building contracts, despite previous claims plans were on hold until the completion of a government consultation on the regulations governing carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The documents were leaked to The Guardian and also reportedly show that officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) have completed a new draft version of the planning conditions for the Kingsnorth site, which make no reference to CCS.

The paper said that the revelations are made in an exchange of emails between the company and BERR officials.

In the exchange Doug Waters, the senior development engineer for E.ON on the project, wrote to Mohammed Gary, a civil servant at BERR, requesting a meeting to discuss planning conditions on the grounds that the company is "looking to finalise contracts".

The exchange is likely to further anger environmentalists opposed to the proposed construction of the new plant, as it comes a full six weeks after E.ON signalled it would not proceed with the project until it had a clear ruling from the government on the legislation governing CCS systems that could be installed on the site and a definition on what the government means when it says any new plants must be "carbon capture ready".

Speaking at the time, a spokesman for the company said that it felt it had a good understanding of what would be required were the government to approve the plant with the proviso that it is "carbon capture ready", but would require a formal definition before continuing with its investment.

However, the company insisted yesterday that it had not broken with this commitment to wait until the end of the current consultation of CCS rules, insisting it was normal practice for a business to complete as much work as possible ahead of the final planning decision.

A spokesman for BERR also told the Guardian that the absence of references to CCS in the draft planning document "should not be viewed as signalling anything about our intention to require carbon capture readiness if consent were to be granted to E.ON".

The revelations came as the Kingsnorth plant continued to face protests from the Climate Camp that has been built near the facility this week. Tensions between police and protestors mounted yesterday with the officers claiming they found makeshift weapons near the camp.